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The survey had a sample size of 15 to understand the Vivienne Westwood customer. Participants were aged between 18 and 50, from a range of different working backgrounds. From this data, I was able to draw conclusions as to if I was successful in marketing my range to the correct audience.

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Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.

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A significant amount of information I researched about the Vivienne Westwood brand came from the brand's website within the "Our Approach" section. The brand are transparent about their day to day workings and future aims, however could offer customers the opportunity to see where each product is sourced from.

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Vivienne Westwood is one of the last independent global fashion brands in the world. We exist to do more than just produce clothes and accessories.

We use our collections, collaborations and catwalk shows as a platform to promote awareness and campaign for a better world. We use our voice to fight climate change, and to mobilise people around its impact on Mother Earth, Gaia, who sustains us all.

We know there is a contradiction between our activism and the industry we are part of. Fashion creates products which are too often disposable, and which - through their creation, distribution and eventual disposal - can have a disproportionately negative impact on our planet, its wildlife and people.

We know this and we know we must do better. We have been adapting the way we make our clothes and accessories over the last few years to reflect the growing urgency to change how the industry operates but, in this time of climate crisis, we must go further.

We continually challenge ourselves to make all our products with greater care for people and the environment, lowering our impact as much as possible. We push for a fashion industry that we can be proud to be part of. We are committed to strong, holistic action in the interests of farmers, artisans, supply chain workers, brand employees, our customers, our communities and all life on earth.

We are proud of the changes we have made so far. We understand there is so much more to do.

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Vivienne Westwood is one of the last independent global fashion brands in the world. We exist to do more than just produce clothes and accessories. We use our collections, collaborations and catwalk shows as a platform to promote awareness and campaign for a better world.

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Stella McCartney market position- accessed 05/01

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Stella McCartney market position- accessed 05/01

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-219% YoY profit for year ending 2018 due to increased costs- purchase of Kering's share in brand and opening of new flagship store on Old Bond Street, Mayfair.

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// Stella McCartney saw profits drop 219%

// It made a loss of £10.8 million in the year to December 31, 2018

Stella McCartney has reported a drop in profits for the year to December 31, 2018.

The luxury retailer's operating profits plunged by 219 per cent - equating to an operating loss of £10.8 million during the period, according to files registered at Companies House.

The business had made an operating profit of £9.1 million in the previous year, but profits were wiped out as costs increased.

READ MORE: Stella McCartney poaches Moschino director as CEO

The eponymous label said the gain was as a result of corporate reorganisation which saw McCartney buy out luxury goods conglomerate Kering's stake in the business.

Despite the operating loss, sales were broadly flat, up 0.2 per cent year on year to £42.6 million.

In the year since the results, Stella McCartney began a partnership with Louis Vuitton owner LVMH.

The retailer will retain creative control and a majority of shares, but LVMH will assist in the development of the business and its strategy.

McCartney, who does not use leather or fur in her designs, said the retailer "will remain faithful to its long-lasting commitment to sustainable and ethical luxury fashion".

"Social responsibility is at the heart of the business. We are committed to promoting labour standards and protecting human rights in all parts of the business."

Last year, Stella McCartney poached the general director of Moschino, Gabriele Maggio, as its chief executive.
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Stella McCartney plunges into the red as profits drop 219%

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Stella McCartney saw profits drop 219% // It made a loss of £10.8 million in the year to December 31, 2018 Stella McCartney has reported a drop in profits for the year to December 31, 2018.

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The target Vivienne Westwood customer is a "Metropolitan professional", residing in a city location with a higher consumer spend.

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Millennial shopping habits in luxury retailing

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Millennial shopping habits in luxury retailing

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Luxury retailing shopping behaviour- accessed 23/12

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Luxury retailing shopping behaviour- accessed 23/12

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Results from a 2017 study carried out by Deloitte found that Millennial customers shopping at luxury brands, only did so on the odd occasion as a form of reward for themselves, supporting results carried out in my Vivienne Westwood customer profile survey.

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Organic cotton- sourced in Turkey- accessed 02/02

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Organic cotton- sourced in Turkey- accessed 02/02

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10% of organic cotton production is formed in Turkey
2020 Organic Cotton Market Report (OCMR) Released | Textile Exchange

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Organic peace silk- UK sourcing- accessed 02/02

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Organic peace silk- UK sourcing- accessed 02/02

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Orange fibre is an alternative silk material produced from the by products of citrus fruits, manufactured in Sicily, Italy. This could be a future opportunity for Vivienne Westwood to collaborate with in a featured collection- continuing sustainability focus.

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Organic cotton production +31% YoY 2018/19
Organic cotton production up 31% on last year | Apparel Industry News | just-style (just-style.com)

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Vivienne Westwood's sourcing countries- sustainability issue?- accessed 02/02

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Vivienne Westwood's sourcing countries- sustainability issue?- accessed 02/02

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Future aims for Vivienne Westwood should focus on transparency of the brands supply chain as offered by competitor brands such as Stella McCartney.

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Cotton initiatives include organic cotton, Better Cotton Initiative, Cotton Made in Africa and Fairtrade.

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The millennial customer enjoys standing out in a crowd; shopping according to their own interests and focusing on their individual fashion sense.

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Out of a sample of 15 participants, 87% chose quality as being the most important influencing factor when shopping with luxury brands alike Vivienne Westwood.

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38% of Millennials with an increased spending budget have said they are more likely to treat themselves with apparel products, showing a link between higher spending capabilities and luxury fashion brands.

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Business of Fashion- A circular fashion economy

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Business of Fashion- A circular fashion economy

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More than 60% of consumers believe the environment has an important influence on purchasing decisions, showing the increased focus on sustainability in customers' fashion needs.

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GlobalData [2020]- Sustainability in luxury fashion- accessed 28/12

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GlobalData [2020]- Sustainability in luxury fashion- accessed 28/12

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Changes to luxury brand's sourcing strategies to use a wider range of recycled materials e.g. recycled polyester and implementation of new innovative fabrics as an alternative to existing, unsustainable materials.

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Multi Silk Corset- Critical path analysis 

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Multi Silk Corset- Critical path analysis 

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Road Transport (tktk.ee)
Advantages and Disadvantages of transport via road. UK sourcing will include using landed cost prices for the garments from suppliers and would only offer transport via truck.

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Largest textile and clothing export countries 

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Largest textile and clothing export countries 

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45% of global textile and clothing exports are from China

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Majestic Silks Organics Silks manufacturing is carried out in Hertfordshire, however their office is based in London, a short distance from Vivienne Westwood's base for easy communication between supplier and buyer.

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Leicester factory Boohoo scandal- accessed 05/02

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Leicester factory Boohoo scandal- accessed 05/02

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Workers were being severely mistreated in Leicester factories supplying e-commerce dominating brand Boohoo, paying workers only £3.50/hour and violating their human rights.

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The recent undercover investigation by The Sunday Times into poor pay and working conditions at a supplier of the fast-fashion retail brand Boohoo is a timely reminder for all employers of the importance of modern slavery statements.
Background: What is the Boohoo scandal?
The undercover investigation by The Sunday Times revealed that a garment supplier within Boohoo's supply chain was paying its factory workers as little as 3.50 per hour, well below the UK minimum wage. Furthermore, workers had allegedly been required to work throughout the Covid-19 lockdown with little or no social distancing measures or protective equipment in place.

Boohoo immediately distanced itself from the supplier in question, ceasing all business with the company and clarifying that it was a sub-supplier rather than a direct supplier. It also instructed Alison Levitt QC to undertake an independent review into its supply chain and promised to "act decisively" on the findings.

Nevertheless, the effects of the allegations on Boohoo's business were abrupt and adverse, with a number of online platforms and retailers refusing to sell Boohoo's goods from their websites and its share price falling by a third.

At the time of writing, government agencies have visited a number of premises in Leicester to investigate alleged abuses, although they have confirmed that, at this stage, they are yet to identify any offences under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (" MSA").
What do employers need to know about the MSA?
The MSA imposes an obligation on businesses to publish an annual statement disclosing the steps they have taken to ensure there is no slavery or human trafficking present within their organisation or supply chain.

The obligation applies to corporates or partnerships (wherever they are incorporated or formed) which:

carry on business or part of their business in the UK;

supply goods and services; and

are above a certain size (36 million annual global turnover).

The annual slavery and human trafficking statement must confirm either:

the steps taken by the organisation to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in any of its supply chains or its own businesses; or

that no steps have been taken by the organisation to confirm this.

A link to the statement must be published in a prominent position on the business' website and signed by a director.

The statement should include:

The organisation's structure, business and its supply chains.

Its policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking.

Its due diligence processes in relation to slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains.

The parts of its business and supply chains where it has identified a risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place, and the steps it has taken to manage these risks.

The performance indicators it relies on to measure the effectiveness of the steps taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in its business or supply chains.

The training about slavery and human trafficking available to its staff.

As a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the government published updated guidance on 20 April 2020 allowing businesses to delay publishing their MSA statements by up to six months without penalty if necessary due to "coronavirus-related pressures". However, once published, a business will be required to state the reason for the delay.

The government has also provided recommended mitigation measures for areas of increased modern slavery risk. These include:

The health and safety of workers

Supporting suppliers

Grievance procedures

Recruitment

Why should all employers comply with the MSA - isn't it limited to certain sectors?
Aside from the obvious reasons for complying with the MSA and avoiding allegations of forced labour or human trafficking, the negative publicity that follows these allegations can be enough to hinder any business. Reputation is fragile and failure to adhere to ethical practices is a guaranteed way to tarnish a company's reputation.

Compliance may also be a requirement of a contract or tender process. For example, voluntary modern slavery statements or assurances may be required of smaller organisations (who are not obligated under the MSA) in their role as business partners of larger organisations. Similarly, compliance may be required of potential suppliers in public procurement tender processes.

Currently, only the Secretary of State has the power to enforce compliance by seeking an injunction in the English courts to compel an organisation to issue a modern slavery statement. However, an independent review of the MSA (commissioned by the Home Secretary and published in May 2019) recommended that the UK government should strengthen its approach against non-compliant organisations by, for example, giving an enforcement body the power to impose sanctions.

In March of this year, the UK government published its own modern slavery statement, which included a foreword written by the Prime Minister stressing the importance of taking active steps to drive out modern slavery from supply chains. This, together with the opening of a public consultation last year on proposed changes to the MSA to target non-compliance, highlights the government's focus on and commitment to tackling the issue of modern slavery and human trafficking.
What do employers need to do?
Boohoo serves as a timely reminder to other employers to re-assess risks in their supply chains, review compliance measures and preserve the reputation of their business.

The current pandemic will inevitably alter how many businesses operate. We would therefore recommend that you carry out a thorough risk assessment to better understand your supply chains and reassess your monitoring procedures to protect your own staff and those in your supply chains against exploitation. Organisations will be expected to show how they monitored and responded to any new or increased risks identified. Any response should be proportionate to the risk identified and may, for example, involve consideration of the following:

Supply chain level

Do you know your supply chain? How do your suppliers and their sub-contractors operate? What are their hiring processes? What standards do they adhere to?

Do you have appropriate contractual provisions? Do you have clauses in your agreements to compel compliance by suppliers to a Code of Conduct?

Staff level

What training do you provide to your staff? Are employees able to spot red flags and raise any issues using the appropriate channels?

Do you have any policies that address slavery and human trafficking? When were they last updated? Are employees aware of such policies?

Senior level

Is there "tone from the top"? How is a compliant culture disseminated through to employees? Do your staff understand that you have a zero tolerance culture? Is it visible?

Has the Board been updated? The Board (or equivalent management body) must approve the annual modern slavery statement. It should therefore be updated of any new or increased risks.

An organisation may want to consider instructing professional advisers who are better able to identify vulnerabilities or faults in its systems.

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The Boohoo scandal: A reminder of Modern Slavery Act 2015 obligations | Lexology

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The recent undercover investigation by The Sunday Times into poor pay and working conditions at a supplier of the fast-fashion retail brand Boohoo is a timely reminder for all employers of the importance of modern slavery statements. Background: What is the Boohoo scandal?

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Lenzing Survey shows that transparency is key for clothing and home textiles brands to win consumer trust and confidence

Lenzing Survey shows that transparency is key for clothing and home textiles brands to win consumer trust and confidence. © Lenzing.

Lenzing Group (Lenzing), a leader in sustainably produced wood-based specialty fibres, has announced the findings from its Global Consumer Perception Survey on Sustainable Raw Materials in Fashion and Home Textiles. The survey, which was conducted in early 2020, assessed the perceptions and behaviour of conscious consumers* towards sustainable clothing and home textile products**, as well as their views towards sustainable raw materials and product features.

To understand consumer interest in sustainable materials and their current knowledge, a total of 9000 respondents across nine countries aged between 18 and 64 were surveyed using online questionnaires. The key findings of the survey provided a glimpse into consumer habits towards pursuing a sustainable lifestyle, their knowledge of the raw materials used in clothing and home textile products, their perception towards brands, and preferred product descriptions.

Lenzing says the findings also reflected the imminent need for closer collaboration within the clothing and home textile industries to provide consumers with more transparent information about the products they purchase, in order to enhance consumer trust and maximize business potential.

Three key findings of the survey are outlined below:

Conscious Consumers actively engage in pursuing a sustainable lifestyle and are constantly educating themselves about raw materials

Almost all (86%) of respondents believe purchasing clothes made from sustainable raw materials is a key component of living a more sustainable lifestyle, and they frequently purchase products from brands that are committed to using sustainable raw materials (80%) or recycled materials (77%) in their products. The survey also revealed that the majority of respondents actively learn about sustainability through researching the production process of products before purchasing (76% in clothing and 74% in bedding and home textiles). They also tend to read label hangtags (88% in clothing and 86% in bedding and home textiles), and most respondents are willing to pay an average of 40% more for clothing or home textile products with descriptions that reflect sustainability.

When shopping for clothing and home textile products, respondents consider the material type to be their most important consideration (ranked in the top three factors for consideration by 44% of respondents), which is above price, design, brand reputation and function.

Products described as 'Eco-friendly' or 'Natural' with a 'Biodegradable' or 'Recyclable' afterlife appeal to consumers

When asked about definition of sustainable clothing, respondents considered products being processed or manufactured using humane, eco-responsible production processes and products made from natural, organic or botanic materials as top considerations. Over 80% of respondents expressed that they are "extremely interested" or "very interested" in sustainable fashion and purchasing clothing made from sustainable raw materials.

When asked about their preference for clothing and home textile products, half of the respondents said they would be more likely to purchase a product described as "eco-friendly" or "natural", whereas over 60% of respondents are more likely to purchase products with a "recyclable" or "biodegradable" afterlife. Given the popularity of such terms, there are opportunities for brands to provide more descriptions and greater clarity to the materials, production processes and product afterlife information to their products as consumer education.

Brands with greater transparency on raw materials and ingredients can gain consumer trust

Most respondents considered brands that are transparent with their ingredients (83%) and the origin of their raw materials (82%) as trustworthy. At the same time, respondents also consider brands that are transparent about their production processes (82%), sustainable practices (81%) and where their raw materials come from (82%) as trusted brands. While respondents believed that knowing what raw materials were used in their clothing and home textile products is important to build confidence in a brand (87%), they also believed that knowing the brand's environmental impact when deciding to purchase (87%) is very important.

"The findings of this survey prove the value of Lenzing's ongoing efforts in driving the sustainability dialogue across the textile supply chain, from yarn makers to consumer brands. Based on the survey, we gained a more comprehensive understanding of consumer perceptions globally. The rating of material type being the top consideration factor when shopping for clothing and home textile products has also echoed our belief that consumers value and actively look out for sustainable products. This survey provided us, our partners and brands with insights to curate more targeted strategies and programs to drive sustainability, not only on raw materials, but also product afterlife. In the long run, we hope to bring optimal value for the clothing and home textiles industry supply chain and help brands achieve new heights, drive sustainability and safeguard our planet." said Florian Heubrandner, Vice President of Global Business Management Textiles at Lenzing.

Collaboration in the fashion and textiles industry is essential for driving greater transparency

Though sustainability has been a hot topic among brands, to enhance transparency, there is still room for the supply chain to evolve communications on raw materials, production process and product afterlife, Lenzing says. Given consumers are already actively searching for sustainable products, it is important for the industry and brands to revolutionize how technical knowledge is translated into consumer language on websites, product tags and labels, the company adds.

Infographic depicting further information about Lenzing's consumer survey. © Lenzing.

To drive change, Lenzing says it has been taking the lead with a three-pillar approach to increase industry collaboration and shift towards sustainability by ensuring a higher degree of transparency and enabling verification of raw material origin from production process to final garment. The three-pillar approach covers special fibre identification technology, a blockchain-based tracking system, and proactive supply chain collaboration and planning. Such approach is also complemented by Lenzing's bespoke e-branding platform for manufacturers and brands, providing one-stop support for fabric certification, including fabric testing, identification numbers and hangtags to offer reassurance that sustainability is in every step of the supply chain.

"We are thrilled to see more consumers embrace a sustainable fashion lifestyle by making informed purchases based on research and reading product labels. With rising consumer expectations towards sustainability, over the past few years, we have been transforming and upgrading the Tencel brand experience through proactive engagement programs on sustainable cellulosic fibres," said Harold Weghorst, Vice President of Global Brand Management at Lenzing.

"Consumer interest in eco-friendly and biodegradable products aligns with our ongoing commitment to bring brands and consumers more sustainable and biodegradable options to the clothing and home textile industries. Derived from sustainably sourced wood, Tencel branded fibres offer breathability, quality and biodegradability to clothing and home textile fabrics that are used in our everyday lives. While we continue to advocate for innovation in sustainable raw materials, we will continue to go beyond fibres and look for new ways to engage brands and consumers, enabling them to embrace sustainability anytime, anywhere," added Weghorst.

The survey which was commissioned by Lenzing in partnership with Wakefield Research, a market research firm, surveyed online a total of 9000 respondents aged between 18 and 64 from nine countries including China, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Germany, U.K. and the U.S. in early 2020.

*Refers to consumers who: 1) Are image-conscious and value eco-friendly products; 2) Believe that brands play an important role by acting ethically, producing sustainable products and giving back to their communities; 3) Are influenced by deals, others' opinions and environmentally friendly practices of companies and 4) Have purchased clothes and home textiles within the past 2 years.

**Home textile products include bedding, draperies, carpets, towels, etc.

www.lenzing.com

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Survey shows transparency is key for clothing and home textiles brands

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Lenzing Survey shows that transparency is key for clothing and home textiles brands to win consumer trust and confidence Lenzing Survey shows that transparency is key for clothing and home textiles brands to win consumer trust and confidence. © Lenzing.

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Gen Z fast-fashion survey- Vogue Business- accessed 05/02

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Gen Z fast-fashion survey- Vogue Business- accessed 05/02

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Over 50% of Gen Z participants shopped with fast-fashion retailers due to its accessibility and affordability. Despite brands like Boohoo receiving a wide range of negative press lately due to its Leicester Factories scandal, individuals choose to dismiss this and continue shopping with them.

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Gen Z are often cited as the most sustainably minded generation. But for a large proportion of young consumers, it's not easy to stop buying £9 dusty pink cropped lounge sweats and other fast fashion online.

Fast fashion firm Boohoo was one one of the rare winners of the Covid-19 lockdown, with sales up 45 per cent in the three months to May. But its share price has fallen by nearly a third in the last week, wiping out £1.5 billion in value, after allegations of malpractice by suppliers in the English city of Leicester including vastly underpaid staff working in cramped, unsafe conditions by Labour Behind the Label and The Sunday Times newspaper. Campaigners have partially attributed a spike of Covid-19 cases in the region to poor social distancing at the factories. The area is still in tight lockdown despite easing across the UK.

Still, that's not been enough to change the mind of consumers, who bought over £1 billion from Boohoo last year, a tenfold increase in five years. Over half of 105 Gen Zs surveyed by Vogue Business reported buying "most of their clothes" from Boohoo and other fast fashion e-tailers like Asos, PrettyLittleThing and Missguided. And of those who shop with these brands, half said they would continue to buy from Boohoo-owned brands (PrettyLittleThing, Boohoo and Nasty Gal) even after hearing about the Leicester coverage. Boohoo has rejected the allegations, but accepts there have been breaches of its code of conduct and has launched an independent investigation.

Analysts and Gen Z agree that Boohoo and its peers' winning formula is attributable to its heavy reliance on influencer marketing, competitive pricing and the fast flow of new styles. Having a local supply chain means products worn on TV shows like Love Island or popular Instagrammers can be mimicked and made available days later. If social engagement suggests demand is there, even more product is ordered. If it can maintain those drivers, it seems unlikely that a significant enough number of its target consumers will abandon the brand. However, nosediving investor sentiment suggests it can't continue being opaque about its supply chain.

Low price fast fashion meets Gen Zs needs

The majority of young shoppers consulted prefer fast fashion e-tailers because of their trend-led, influencer inspired clothing, extensive sizing and fast delivery. The most common descriptors used for brands like Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing were "accessible", "affordable" and "fast delivery".

Mehak Akhter, a 19-year-old from Manchester, regularly posts "haul" videos on TikTok, (a common format among Gen Zs where users show or try on all the things they have bought from fast fashion sites). Akhter buys most of her clothes from Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal because they stay on top of the trends and delivery is quick.

"When I'm bored I end up going through them and I always end up buying something," she says. "All these brands are affordable, they also offer new discounts everyday or student discounts which make you feel better about spending."

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Gen Z still loves fast fashion, but Boohoo investors are spooked

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A Vogue Business survey shows that despite shocking claims about the fast fashion's supply chain in Leicester, young consumers are still buying.

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If you love leather, learn why the Italian one is the best for durable and elegant bags, belts or watch bands. It depends on the quality of the processing techniques: top grain and full grain. But it also refers to the quality of the base product: vegetable tanned Italian leather.

What does Italian leather mean?

Made in Italy of course!
It is highly priced leather used for a wide range of different goods: bags, wallets, shoes, watch bands, even car interiors.
Italian leather is highly regarded in fashion and design for the beauty of its nuances and its long-lasting strength.

What is Italian leather made of?

The obvious question is not so obvious at all.
It is made of cowhide but this is just the first step. To obtain the best Italian leather special traditional techniques are used. Different types of treatments and different parts of the hide result in a great quality product.

What makes it the best?

Passion and tradition. The old workers and the new one believe in their job and in what they are going to do.
A deep knowledge of the different leathers that they are using.
The tanning methods are natural, using vegetable ingredients. That's why Italian leather is so resistant, elastic and smooth.
And last but not least the special nuances that make this kind of leather immediately recognizable and unique.

Why is it called "Italian leather"?

Because the process of vegetables tanning has been invented in the Tuscan tanneries, where it is still used.
There are other places in the world which use this technique, of course. But the Italian leather is also a trade-mark to protect the traditional knowledge and techniques. It is the result of an ancient wisdom connected with the last technical innovations.

Where does it come from?

In a global world, our hide too is global. It comes from different countries and the entire process is certified. From the breeding to the tannery. As a result we know that no animals are killed just for their skin.
The cowhides that we use are the by-products of the food industries.

How is it made?

It is a well guarded secret, but we know something!
The most important part of process is the tanning.
The raw hides undergo natural treatments in wood drums. Using vegetable tannins the hides spend up to three months in water and shadow.
The tannins build insoluble complexes with the proteins of animal skins to guarantee the durability of the leather.
Such a process gives a typical smell to the Italian leather.

What does it mean: Full Grain?

It is the most resistant and strongest leather. It is made of the top layer of the hide without sanded or buffed it.
This kind of treatment assures the customer a unique product with all the typical skin's imperfections and nuances.
The Full Grain looks more natural and raw and every piece has its own features.

And: Top Grain?

It is made of a thinner layer of hide: softer and more flexible than the Full Grain.
Its surface has been sanded and a finish coat can be added.
It does not develop a patina unlike the other one but it is less breathable.
The Top Grain is cheaper and it does not look natural but its great resistance to stains make it a useful product for everyday life.

How to clean Italian Leather?

This operation is very simple and easy.
You do not need a lot of time to clean leather.
Just wipe the exterior surface with a soft cloth and warm, mild soapy water.
After it, dry the leather with another clean cloth.
Remember: never soak or rinse it, otherwise it can lose its natural qualities.
Lastly allow it do air dry, away from direct sunlight and heat sources.

How to protect it?

Don't worry, it is naturally resistant and durable.
To take care of your leather and extend its life, you have just to follow some tips.
Take it away from humidity and high heat. Don't soak it in water and avoid leaving it in direct sunlight. Store the leather in a cool, dry place and don't forget to wrap it in a soft clean cloth.

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What is Italian Leather? 10 things you should know | Meridio Band

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If you love leather, learn why the Italian one is the best for durable and elegant bags, belts or watch bands. It depends on the quality of the processing techniques: top grain and full grain. But it also refers to the quality of the base product: vegetable tanned Italian leather.

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Here at Pendleton, we use pure virgin wool for our famous blankets and shirts - but what is virgin wool, and why does that matter? Keep reading to learn the difference between virgin and recycled wool and what each is best for.

Virgin wool

Virgin wool is simply wool that's never been used before-but that difference matters. It's better than recycled wool because it's stronger and higher quality. Pure virgin wool is naturally breathable in both cold and warm weather, water-repellent, durable and insulating. It also resists wrinkles, stains and odors. Even though you can dry-clean wool shirts, many people simply hang them up and let them air out, finding that to be just as effective.

Since virgin wool fibers haven't been shredded like recycled wool, they're more resilient-they don't break or wrinkle as easily and can provide more stretch. A shirt made of virgin wool can last for decades-some Pendleton customers pass down their Board Shirts through several generations. Not something you can say about cotton or synthetic materials, right?

Recycled wool

You wouldn't necessarily think of wool in the same category as paper bags, aluminum cans and plastic bottles, but like those three, it's recyclable. Recycled wool got a burst of popularity during World War II, when fabrics were rationed because wool was needed for military uniforms. As a result, civilians would recycle wool blankets into coats, or use the yarn from wool socks to knit sweaters. Very resourceful, right?

Recycled wool is also called "reclaimed wool" or "shoddy wool." Recycled wool is exactly what it sounds like: wool that's been used to make one product, then used to make something else. Recycled wool is great for insulation, cloth diaper covers, DIY rugs, polishing metal, applying wood stain, absorbing spills and more.

However, recycled wool isn't the best for clothing and blankets if softness is your goal. To recycle wool, the fibers are torn apart and respun, which lowers the quality. Recycled wool can be "a little more harsh or fuzzy," explains a wool crafting site. Adds one yarn site, "Most recycled wool goods have a harsh feel to them." At Pendleton, our goal is soft, premium wool clothing and blankets, which is why we exclusively use pure virgin wool.

The FTC

Today, companies are legally required by the Federal Trade Commission to specify if wool is recycled. So if a wool garment isn't specified as virgin or recycled, it's probably virgin wool. Now the next time someone wonders, "What is virgin wool?" you'll know the answer!

For pure virgin wool blankets, clothing and accessories designed to last for decades, shop Pendleton at pendleton-usa.com.

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What is virgin wool? And is it better than recycled wool?

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Wool experts Here at Pendleton, we use pure virgin wool for our famous blankets and shirts - but what is virgin wool, and why does that matter? Keep reading to learn the difference between virgin and recycled wool and what each is best for. Virgin wool Virgin wool is simply wool that's never been used...

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Sustainable Peace Silk | Ahimsa Silk Fabric – ZAVI (shop-zavi.com)
This type of silk will be used in my range as it is more ethical in the way it treats the silk worms, further developing

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Recycled polyester usage is +404% YoY in the UK- used within 29% of the range.

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Nearly half of the world's clothing is made of polyester and Greenpeace forecasts this amount to nearly double by 2030. Why? The athleisure trend if one of the main reasons behind it: an increasing number of consumers are look for stretchier, more resistant garments. The problem is, polyester is not a sustainable textile option, as it is made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common type of plastic in the world. In short, the majority of our clothes come from crude oil, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is calling for drastic actions to keep the world's temperature to a maximum of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

One year ago, the non-profit organization Textile Exchange challenged over 50 textile, apparel and retail companies (including giants like Adidas, H&M, Gap and Ikea) to increase their use of recycled polyester by 25 percent by 2020. It worked: last month, the organization issued a statement celebrating that signatories have not only met the goal two years before the deadline, they have actually exceeded it by upping their use of recycled polyester by 36 percent. In addition, twelve more companies have pledged to join the challenge this year. The organization forecasts 20 percent of all polyester to be recycled by 2030.

Recycled polyester, also known as rPET, is obtained by melting down existing plastic and re-spinning it into new polyester fiber. While much attention is given to rPET made from plastic bottles and containers thrown away by consumers, in reality polyethylene terephthalate can be recycled from both post-industrial and post-consumer input materials. But, just to give an example, five soda bottles yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt.

Although recycling plastic sounds like an indisputable good idea, rPET's celebration is far from being a unanimity in the sustainable fashion community. FashionUnited has gathered the main arguments from both sides.

Recycled polyester: the pros

1. Keeping plastics from going to landfill and the ocean - Recycled polyester gives a second life to a material that's not biodegradable and would otherwise end up in landfill or the ocean. According to the NGO Ocean Conservancy, 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate in marine environments. If we keep this pace, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic has been found in 60 percent of all seabirds and 100 percent of all sea turtle species, because they mistake plastic for food.

As for landfill, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported that the country's landfills received 26 million tons of plastic in 2015 alone. The EU estimates the same amount to be generated yearly by its members. Clothes are undoubtedly a big part of the problem: in the UK, a report by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimated that about 140 million pounds worth of clothes end up in landfills each year. "Taking plastic waste and turning it into a useful material is very important for humans and our environment," said Karla Magruder, Board Member of Textile Exchange, in an email to FashionUnited.

2. rPET is just as good as virgin polyester, but takes less resources to make - Recycled polyester is almost the same as virgin polyester in terms of quality, but its production requires 59 percent less energy compared to virgin polyester, according to a 2017 study by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. WRAP estimates rPET's production to reduce CO2 emissions by 32 percent in comparison to regular polyester. "If you look at life cycle assessments, rPET scores significantly better than virgin PET," adds Magruder.

In addition, recycled polyester can contribute to reduce the extraction of crude oil and natural gas from the Earth to make more plastic. "Using recycled polyester lessens our dependence on petroleum as a source of raw materials," says the website of outdoor brand Patagonia, best known for making fleece from used soda bottles, unusable manufacturing waste and worn-out garments. "It curbs discards, thereby prolonging landfill life and reducing toxic emissions from incinerators. It also helps to promote new recycling streams for polyester clothing that is no longer wearable," adds the label.

"Because polyester accounts for approximately 60 percent of the world's production of PET -- about twice what's used in plastic bottles -- developing a non-virgin supply chain for polyester fiber has the potential to massively impact global energy and resource requirements," argues American apparel brand Nau, also known for prioritizing sustainable fabric options.
Allbirds, the footwear brand known for making shoes with sustainable materials, uses shoelaces made of recycled plastic bottles
Recycled polyester: the cons

1. Recycling has its limitations - Many garments are not made from polyester alone, but rather from a blend of polyester and other materials. In that case, it is more difficult, if not impossible, to recycle them. "In some cases, it is technically possible, for example blends with polyester and cotton. But it is still at the pilot level. The challenge is to find processes that can be scaled up properly and we're not there yet," said Magruder to Suston Magazine last year. Certain laminations and finishings applied to the fabrics can also render them unrecyclable.

Even clothes that are 100 percent polyester can't be recycled forever. There are two ways to recycle PET: mechanically and chemically. "Mechanical recycling is taking a plastic bottle, washing it, shredding it and then turning it back into a polyester chip, which then goes through the traditional fiber making process. Chemical recycling is taking a waste plastic product and returning it to its original monomers, which are indistinguishable from virgin polyester. Those can then go back into the regular polyester manufacturing system," explained Magruder to FashionUnited. Most rPET is obtained through mechanical recycling, as it is the cheapest of the two processes and requires no chemicals other than the detergents needed to clean the input materials. However, "through this process, the fibre can lose its strength and thus needs to be mixed with virgin fibre," notes the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.

"Most people believe that plastics can be infinitely recycled, but each time plastic is heated it degenerates, so the subsequent iteration of the polymer is degraded and the plastic must be used to make lower quality products," said Patty Grossman, co-founder of Two Sisters Ecotextiles, in an email to FashionUnited. Textile Exchange, however, states on its website that rPET can be recycled for many years: "garments from recycled polyester aim to be continuously recycled without degradation of quality", wrote the organization, adding that the polyester garment cycle has the potential to become "a closed loop system" someday.

Those following Grossman's line of thought argue that the world should produce and consume less plastic in general. If the public believes everything they throw away can be recycled, they will probably see no problem in continuing to consume disposable plastic goods. Unfortunately, only a small portion of the plastic we use gets recycled. In the United States, a mere 9 percent of all plastics were recycled in 2015, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Those calling for a less celebratory view of rPET defend that fashion brands and shoppers should be encouraged to favor natural fibers as much as possible. After all, even though rPET takes 59 percent less energy to produce than virgin polyester, it still requires more energy than hemp, wool and both organic and regular cotton, according to a 2010 report from the Stockholm Environment Institute.

2. The process of recycling PET impacts the environment, too - According to Grossman, another issue concerning the recycling process of polyester is that the chips generated by mechanical recycling can vary in color: some turn out crispy white, while others are creamy yellow, making color consistency difficult to achieve. "Some dyers find it hard to get a white, so they're using chlorine-based bleaches to whiten the base," she explains. "Inconsistency of dye uptake makes it hard to get good batch-to-batch color consistency and this can lead to high levels of re-dyeing, which requires high water, energy and chemical use."

Moreover, some studies suggest that PET bottles leach antimony, a substance "known to be cancer causing," in the words of Textile Exchange on its website. Antimony oxide is typically used as a catalyst in the process of making PET bottles and polyester. Health agencies around the world say there is no reason for concern, as quantities are too small to be considered toxic (500 mg/kg PET). Even so, Textile Exchange names "finding substitutions for antimony" as one of rPET's "challenges".

There is also an academic debate concerning the calculation of CO2 emissions in the comparison between virgin polyester and rPET "because the impact of the fiber's first life is not included in the overall environmental assessment of recycled fibers. If it would, results would differ," according to the report from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.

3. Recycled polyester releases microplastics - Last but not least, some counter argue the affirmation that rPET keeps plastic from reaching the ocean. It still does, as man-made fabrics can release microscopic plastic fibers -- the infamous microplastics. According to a recent study from Plymouth University, in the UK, each cycle of a washing machine can release more than 700,000 plastic fibers into the environment. A paper published in 2011 in the journal Environmental Science Technology found that microfibers made up 85 percent of human-made debris on shorelines around the world. It doesn't matter if garments are from virgin or recycled polyester, they both contribute to microplastics pollution.

Pictures: Everlane Facebook, Pixabay, Allbirds Facebook

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IN DEPTHAbout 49 percent of the world's clothing is made of polyester and Greenpeace forecasts this percentage to nearly double by 2030, since the athleisur

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Promotional activity at Vivienne Westwood to show when up to 70% off reductions launched- week 52 beginning 21st December 2020.

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The EU Member States imported clothes worth €154 billion in 2019, just over half of which came from non-EU Member States (52%, or €80 billion). Over the last decade, imports of clothing to the EU Member States increased in value by 62%.

€115 billion of clothes were exported by the EU Member States, the majority of which went to other EU Member States (69%, or €79 billion). This represents a 68% increase in the value of EU Member States' intra-EU exports since 2009.

Although trade in textiles has increased significantly over the last decade, factory closures and transport restrictions related to the current coronavirus pandemic may affect this trend.
Germany, the largest importer of clothes
In 2019, almost €19 billion-worth of clothes were imported by Germany from non-EU Member States (23% of total extra-EU imports of clothes imports by value). This makes Germany the largest EU importer of clothing from non-EU countries, ahead of Spain (€13 billion, 16%), France (€11 billion, 14%), the Netherlands (€10 billion, 13%) and Italy (€8 billion, 10%).
China, the main origin of imported clothes
Imports of clothes from non-EU countries came mainly from China (€23 billion, or 29% of total extra-EU clothes), Bangladesh (€15 billion, 19%) and Turkey (€9 billion, 11%), followed by United Kingdom (€5 billion, 6%), India (€4 billion, 5%), Cambodia and Vietnam (both €3 billion, 4%).

Source dataset: DS-645593
Italy, largest clothing exporter
Among EU Member States, Italy exported clothes worth €12 billion to non-EU Member States in 2019 (34% of total extra-EU exports of clothes by value). This makes Italy the largest extra-EU exporter of clothes, ahead of Germany (€6 billion, 16%), Spain (€5 billion, 15%), France (€4 billion, 13%) and the Netherlands (€2 billion, 5%).
Notes:

The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States. The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. Further information is published here.

The EU 27 data reflect the political change in the EU composition so the UK is considered as an extra-EU partner country for the EU27. However, the UK was still part of the internal market for the period covered, meaning that data on trade with the UK were still based on statistical concepts applicable to trade between the EU Member States. As a consequence, while imports from any other extra-EU27 trade partner are grouped by country of origin, the UK data reflect country of consignment. In practice this means that the clothes imported by the EU27 from the UK were physically transported from the UK but part of these clothes could have been of other origin than the UK. For this reason data on trade with the UK are not fully comparable with data on trade with other extra-EU27 trade partners like China.

Trade data: Due to quasi-transit trade, the adding of intra-EU trade and extra-EU trade may lead to double counting. An example of this would be clothes imported from China via the Netherlands, where they are cleared by customs for free circulation, before being dispatched to Germany. This would lead to the same clothes being counted as imports by both the Netherlands and Germany. More precisely, they would appear in the Netherlands' extra-EU imports from China and intra-EU exports to Germany and in Germany's intra-EU imports from the Netherlands.

To contact us, please visit our User Support page.

For press queries, please contact our Media Support.

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The EU Member States imported clothes worth €154 billion in 2019, just over half of which came from non-EU Member States (52%, or €80 billion). Over the last decade, imports of clothing to the EU Member States increased in value by 62%.

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Italy total tax contribution- accessed 07/02

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Italy total tax contribution- accessed 07/02

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2019 rate stands at 59.1% for Italy tax rates of business' profits. Compared with the UK which is 30.6% this is a 48.2% increase.

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Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit)

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Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit) from The World Bank: Data

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Millennial marketing techniques- accessed 09/02

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Millennial marketing techniques- accessed 09/02

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Millennial customers focus on the role of personalisation to create exclusive products and experimental marketing with the use of videos and influencer recommendations to create a unique experience.

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Millennials, also known as Generation Y, preceded by Generation X are typically attributed by demographers to those ones born in the early 1980s and mid-1990s to early 2000s as the ending birth years.

The generation has been labelled as lazy, temperamental and lacking loyalty and work satisfaction. To others, they are creative, innovative and approachable.

Although what it is certain is that they are increasingly involved with communications, media, and digital technologies. But Millennials are more than that.

They are dreamers, ambitious, generous and very sympathetic individuals who value more experiences than materialistic possessions.

During their childhood, they were very exposed to the internet and therefore influenced by it which definitely gives a singularity in comparison to previous generations.

Millennial spending statistics and habits

1. Millennials spend two thirds more than Baby Boomers on entertainment

2. Unlike other generation, Millenials are more driven by experiences and half of the millennials prefer to spend on experiences over materialistic things

3. Millennials spend around £150 on restaurants and eating out

4. Millennials spend an average of £73 on new clothes per month

5. 63% of Millennials use social media to stay updated on their favourite brands

6. 60% of Millennials prefer to spend on generic brand than name brand

7. 90% of them share, recommend or review their favourite brands, restaurants, experiences

Understanding the values and aspirations of millennials has been one of the challenges modern marketers have recently faced and for many, it is still an incognita as they differ majorly from previous generations.

For example, the way they see leadership is probably one of the notable traits that them from Generation X as well as how they perceive the work environment and the way they interact at the working environment.

1. What are Millennials driven by?

Often derogatorily labelled as narcist, it is undoubtedly one of the hardest groups to market for its nonconformist and rebellious attitude towards traditional conventions.

According to Facebook, 70% of millennials are influenced by social media when choosing their holidays destination.

Digital marketing consultants and public relations are using influencer marketing and leveraging social media video production to reach them effectively via Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook and believe it to be the most powerful strategy to create a lasting impact.

In the technological era, the instant gratification phenomenon is increasingly rooting and millennials are inevitably being affected.

Consequently, any marketing tactic that satisfies this 'need' will absolutely pay favourably, that is the reason behind the next day delivery initiatives.

If you can offer a solution or a more effective way to do things online for millennials, you will definitely have a lot of chances to succeed.

Examples of these are chatbots, a two-click holiday booking, order food in just two clicks or applying for a job in just a single click - no more going to travel agencies, or speaking to managers or posting letters for a job vacancy, no more phone calls to order food (actually just adding your details when signing up is more than enough).

When marketing successfully a product for this generation, authenticity and personalization are not only crucial but also seem to effectively drive a lot of engagement.

A campaign such as 'Share a coke' launched in and turning into an instant success by increasing sales by 7% is a clear example of this.

Moreover, there is an increasing demand for personalized apparel and accessories. According to Deloitte, 1 in 4 customers are willing to pay more to receive a personalized product.

Brands that can offer personalized products should consider doing so, not only as a tactic to drive more sales but also as an opportunity to increase engagement and build a reputation.

Millennials don't care about catchy and clever phrases, sophisticated wording or extensive advertising campaigns, on the other hand, factors such company's mission, originality and exclusivity are among the most decisive factors in the purchase process.

2. How to attract Millennial customers?

I hope all these millennials spending statistics and data would help you create more effective campaigns that would save time and money. Below I have listed some of my tips on how to generate more engagement with millennials.

2.1. Be Social

Social media is the most cost-effective marketing tool ever being gifted to marketers, adults between 35-49 spend an average of almost 7 hours a week on social media.

How much time do you think millennials spend on social networks? I don't want to know. Unlike their parents, they see shopping for more social and entertainment activity.

2.2. Be unique and authentic

Speak your language audience and serve your target audience, especially if they are millennials. By doing so, Millennials hate being treated a part of the herd, that is the reason why uniqueness and personalization work so well. Birchbox offers a monthly subscription of beauty samples based on skin and hair type's individuals.

2.3. Inbound marketing as the main channel

Just like that old saying: everyone wants to buy, but no one wants to be sold. Millennials don't want to feel like someone is selling them something as if they didn't have control or decision over the sale.

Millennials want simple practical information, blog posts, and useful videos, they follow influencers and experts. This marketing approach has more chances to appeal to them successfully rather than communicating product facts.

In the technological era, traditional retail models are being relegated or outdated by e-commerce and traditional advertising is being replaced by social media, influencers, and reviews.

Companies targeting them would need to be up to the date with the technological changes, offer experiential marketing to increase customer loyalty and build brand reputation.

3. What do Millennials say?

Millennials as a target audience can be challenging but very rewarding in the long term. As a millennial muself, I feel identified with some of the tracts and with which we have been tagged. Companies know that opening to a millennial audience would help them grow their revenue and secure their market position.

According to Big Data analyst at Analytics & Data, 60% of millennials admit being loyal to the brands they like and regularly purchase from the same companies if they are satisfied with the service.

They believe that brands on social media are more trustworthy than traditional advertising. 90% of them share, recommend or review their favourite brands, restaurants, experiences...

Social networks could give you a taste of how millennials live their lives, their spending habits are and their priorities.

One could extract the assumption that Millennials are more driven by experiences rather materialistic possessions as they can often be seen travelling, hanging out and fully make the most of their lives.

As opposed to Baby Boomer, a generation who was more driven by the fact of that building a family and leaving a legacy to their next generations. Millennials could be seen as more of carpe diem generation.

This group is notable for recommending products they love and 93% of them try a new product if a friend or family member recommends it.

Key Millennial Spending Habits

4. Conclusion

Personalized products, originality, authenticity, and experiential marketing are the keys to drive millennials attention. turning your whole sales funnel into a shopping experience would increase engagement among millennials. Increase your influencer marketing and focus on producing quality video content as 76 per cent of millennials follow brands on Youtube.

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Millennial Spending Statistics | Millennial Spending Habits

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Millennials, also known as Generation Y, preceded by Generation X are typically attributed by demographers to those ones born in the early 1980s and mid-1990s to early 2000s as the ending birth years. The generation has been labelled as lazy, temperamental and lacking loyalty and work satisfaction.

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Vivienne Westwood- Sustainability and future aims-accessed 10/02

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Vivienne Westwood- Sustainability and future aims-accessed 10/02

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This article outlines all of the Vivienne Westwood brand's sustainability practises and what sets them apart from other luxury brands. Climate change and overconsumption are the highlights of the article as the main focal point for the brand. My proposed AW 21/22 brand elaborates on these key topics, referencing the effect of climate change on nature and the need for protection. It also supports Vivienne Westwood's awareness of overconsumption, promoting a circular fashion industry.

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Sustainable Fashion - Eco Design - Healthy Lifestyle - Luxiders Magazine

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All retail packaging is plastic-free, made from FSC certified card and paper, the retail bags are made from 40% recycled pulp, 25% leather by-product and is produced with 100% green energy. Elimination of all single-use plastic from transit packaging is implemented. Now the company is working to change their plastic hangers and polythene garment covers to more sustainable alternatives.

The last action area of the brand is reimagining waste. The brand is committed to tackling textile waste through the collections and aims to make the most of the resources that go into their products, reusing, recycling and reimagining as they go. The brand prevents waste at the design stage where possible, using low waste experimental pattern cutting. The company applied a waste hierarchical approach to unused resources; reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering waste products, diverting as much as possible from landfill. At the same time, the brand is consolidating their labels and reducing the size of the collection since this is a really quick way to reduce the brand's impact and is easily connected to manufacturing. This is an on-going process that the aim is to complete this process by 2020. The brand really seeks out opportunities to reuse and upcycle leftover fabric, deadstock and discarded materials.

Their new Green Logistics Hub has full waste recycling and reclamation facilities. The brand has a line of accessories called Made in Africa that is made using recycled canvas, reused roadside banners, unused leather off-cuts, and recycled brass cast and shirting stock reused for linings. The brand is regularly creating items and collaboration around reusing textile leftovers like in 2018, they partnered with Italian social enterprise Project Quid, that creates employment opportunities for vulnerable women. Together they create a limited-edition accessories collection from leftover silk stock. The design and production of the World's End Collection- a unisex limited edition pieces range, was around the re-use of leftover production fabric from previous seasons.

SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE TOPICS

Vivienne as a personality and her brand behind her supporting and engaged in many causes around sustainable topics. From Cool Earth focusing on saving the rainforest and stop Climate Change, up to inaugurate the 'Climate Revolution' at the London Paralympics closing ceremony in 2012. Vivienne campaigned and fundraised money for many organizations over the years like Environmental Justice Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Amnesty International and War Child, amongst many more. As you read the brand has collaborated and dedicated shows and products to raise money and awareness around some of these causes.

In collaboration with The British Fashion Council and the Mayor of London, the brand created a campaign called Fashion SWITCH. Reaching out to fashion businesses commiting to switching to a green energy supplier or to green energy by 2020. Hopefully, this would set an example for a global environmental change, since big brands like Christopher Raeburn, Harvey Nichols, Kering, Marks & Spencer, Oliver Spencer, Positive Luxury, Selfridges, Stella McCartney , Steventai & Teatum Jones are already part of this program. According to Julie's Bicycle, a global charity that supports the cultural and creative community to act on Climate Change, they measured the impact of the actions taken by the brands that signed up to the campaign. Results from the first year (2017 - 2018) estimate a total of 125 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided as a result of this industry shift.

SUPPORTING DIVERSITY AND GENDER EQUALITY

The last area in which Vivienne Westwood's brand is emphasising on is supporting diversity in all its forms and gender equality in the workplace. Today, women at Vivienne Westwood account for 63% of the total headcount, and a big jump especially in leadership roles in recent years. The brand accumulated a report on gender pay gap from 2018 follows the methodology set out by the UK government. Based on the collected data the company outlined actions they are taking since to improve the diversity performances of the company.

Although the brand Vivienne Westwood seemed to have sustainability in the core of the business, as a persona Vivienne faces criticism from eco-activists who claim that despite her calls to save the environment she herself makes no concessions to making her clothing or her business more eco-friendly at the same level as she preaches in media and definitely at her fashion shows.

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Vivienne Westwood, The First Political And Climate Change Luxury Brand

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Vivienne Westwood is associated with sustainability and climate change for more than ten years now, even before sustainability was a topic found on every newspaper and television channel around the world. One of the most famous quotes connected to sustainable fashion is made by Vivienne- Buy less, choose well...

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Vivienne Westwood presented a show at her AW19 catwalk presentation. Whilst showcasing her collections Westwood also ensures she provides the audience with a great, inspirational experience. Vivienne Westwood uses the stage as her political platform, voicing speeches on Climate Change, Capitalism and Brexit.

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ivienne Westwood used the catwalk as her political stage once again at London Fashion Week on Sunday, as models, activists and actors took to the runway at the showing of her autumn/winter collection to perform speeches that criticised the dangers of climate change, Brexit and capitalism.

The British designer showcased her new collection in St John's Smith Square, Westminster, but her sartorial vision played second fiddle to her sociopolitical one, which saw the actor Rose McGowan perform a powerful speech on the runway wearing a hat with "ANGEL" written across it.

The #MeToo pioneer was joined on the catwalk by men and women of all ethnicities and sizes - including model Camilla Rutherford and John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace - whose anarchic spirit was aesthetically realised via garish face paint, prosthetic noses and fluorescent crowns.

Physical statements of activism were made too, with some models lying down on the catwalk while others stomped down it with lashings of attitude. One even sat perched on the edge of it.

In an unusual twist, models also held microphones and spoke to the audience in a theatrical display, urging one another to buy less and pontificating on the consequences of consumerism.

One paused on the runway to say that Brexit was a crime, while another took a jibe at American foreign policy.

As for the clothes themselves, they were as avant-garde as one would expect of a Vivienne Westwood collection.

Models wore dishevelled-but-chic coats, repurposed fabrics, hand-knitted recycled jumpers, slogan T-shirts and sandwich boards scrawled with messages of protest.

In what felt like a return to her punk roots, the designer also honoured her anti-establishment message with shock-factor styling: slipped nipples and micro-kilts worn without underwear.

At the end of the show Westwood herself skipped down the catwalk singing, before joining the entire cast to stand on a performance picket line.

The show was met with rapturous applause and a standing ovation from attendees including the artist Tracy Emin, a longtime fan and supporter of the designer.

It's not the first time Westwood has used the catwalk to protest, having used her platform to address everything from fracking and austerity (spring/summer 2016) to the Scottish referendum (spring/summer 2015) to controversial anti-terrorism laws (spring/summer 2006).

She has also been a passionate anti-Brexit campaigner, releasing a film in January last year to promote her unisex autumn/winter 2018 collection that featured a model waving Union Jacks and EU flags.

The 77-year-old designer works closely with several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, who she partnered with in 2014 for the organisation's Save the Arctic campaign, and she has her own anti-global warming website, Climate Revolution.

Westwood's activism even trickled into the collection she recently launched in collaboration with Burberry, with an oversized T-shirt created in dedication to the charity Cool Earth, which aims to combat global warming and put an end to deforestation.

Long may Westwood continue her reign as the activist queen of British fashion.
Follow all our coverage of London Fashion Week here.

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Vivienne Westwood stages political London Fashion Week show starring Rose McGowan

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ivienne Westwood used the catwalk as her political stage once again at London Fashion Week on Sunday, as models, activists and actors took to the runway at the showing of her autumn/winter collection to perform speeches that criticised the dangers of climate change, Brexit and capitalism.

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E-commerce conversion rate- accessed 06/02

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E-commerce conversion rate- accessed 06/02

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The updated 2021 conversion rate is 2.27%

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Note: The average conversion rate above is based on 12 studies, most of which were published over the last 4 years. By and large, we have excluded data that is anomalous and/or redundant due to age (usually older than 10 years). This list (and the average) is updated as new data is published.
Ecommerce Conversion Rate Benchmarks

Is your Ecommerce Conversion Rate better
or worse than your competitors?

Your conversion rate is 1,22% lower than the average in your industry

Your conversion rate is equal to the average in your industry

Your conversion rate is 0,99% higher than the average in your industry

These days you can get access to data with only a couple clicks or taps, but the thing is - you are not always given reliable information. And as an ecommerce retailer, whether a rookie or a seasoned businessman, you know it very well how important it is to get accurate data. Not only to be able to find out how your website conversion rate stacks up, but also to help you make decisions or adjustments to your own business. And how can you find yourself in all this data that's overflowing you?

Worry not - that's what we're here for.

In this post, we've compiled the best recent case studies, roundups and benchmarks to give you a definitive ecommerce conversion rate average. The data covers rates across a number of industries from the early 2010s to the present day.

What's more, we've also found the most important studies of conversion rates regarding specific segments, like devices, countries and referral channels.

Quick list of all the points we cover in this article about average ecommerce conversion rate:

1. Benchmarks List
2. Is Conversion Rate Important?
3. How Is Website Conversion Rate Calculated?
4. What's a Good Conversion Rate?
5. Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Industry
6. Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Country
7. Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Acquisition Channel
8. Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Device
9. Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Platform
10. Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Payment

1. 2.42% IRP Commerce (Dec 2020)
2. 1.84% Wolfgang Digital (2020)
3. 3.2% Unbounce (2020)
4. 2.42% OrderMetrics (2019)
5. 1.91% Monetate (Q1 2020)
6. 4.31% Invesp (2020)
7. 1.85% Wolfgang Digital (2019)
8. 2.53% Adobe Digital Insights (2018)
9. 1.56% Wolfgang Digital (2017)
10. 1.93% Adobe Digital Insights (2017)
11. 1.91% AddShoppers (2016)
12. 1.36% Wolfgang Digital (2016)

Missed Something? Help Us Out

Have we missed some important data? If you know of research that isn't included, please get in touch at pawel.ogonowski@growcode.com.

Other Notable Studies Not Included in the Final Calculation of Average Ecommerce Conversion Rate

13. 2.35% Wordstream (2014) - Study of conversion rates of landing pages by Wordstream.
14. 8% Mixpanel (2017) - Excluded as anomalous.
15. 1.37% Top10 Website Hosting (Q2 2019)

Is Ecommerce Conversion Rate an Important Metric?

There's an ongoing argument about the importance of conversion rates. We've even published a post about why conversion rate shouldn't be the primary metric you seek to improve through your optimization campaigns. Conversion rates vary so much across verticals that comparing one store or market to another often won't produce any meaningful insights. An apparel website, for instance, will most likely have drastically different metrics to a B2B-focused supplier of industrial materials.

That said, conversion rates aren't going away. And there's a simple reason. When used in conjunction with o ther important metrics, they can be an excellent barometer of the "health" and competitiveness of an online store. Just be careful about how you use third-party benchmarks. Always formulate your own KPIs based on data from your competitors (wherever possible), specific markets and in-house analytics (btw find out our post about must-have ecommerce Google Analytics reports).

A Note About Our Top Sources

At Growcode, we regularly consult a number of excellent sources, which draw either on their own subscriber data or third-party data. If you're eager to ensure your own benchmarks are up-to-date, they're worth keeping track of.

IRP Commerce - IRP Commerce publishes real-time ecommerce data about a number of industries and segments on the "ecommerce market data" section of their site. Most key ecommerce metrics, including conversion rates, are included.

Wolfgang Digital - Wolfgang Digital is a digital marketing company that has published several interesting studies in the past, including a major 2017 benchmark report that has been widely cited across the web.

Statista - In terms of broad, easy-to-consume data, Statista is still the leader. The site is responsible for wide-ranging materials about international ecommerce and constitutes an excellent source for retailers that want to keep their finger on the pulse of the global market.

Unbounce - The resources and reinserts on this site can help answer the most common questions. They have a full section dedicated to e-commerce including this research on conversion rate.

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How is Ecommerce Website Conversion Rate Calculated?

The calculation for measuring the overall conversion rate of an Ecommerce store is widely accepted and well-understood.

Conversion rate = Sessions with transactions / Total sessions.

Note the use of "sessions" rather than unique visitors. A session refers to a visit by an individual within a given time period, often 30 minutes. If a customer visits twice during the same period, it will count as one session. If, as in the example above, a customer visits again, after a thirty minute period has elapsed, the second visit will be recorded as a separate session.

A "session" is a superior indicator of buyer intent, as opposed to a unique visitor, because it comprises a self-contained shopping "event". The same customer may visit a store multiple times during a certain period, with each visit representing an opportunity to make a sale for the online retailer.

What Is a Good Conversion Rate?

There are significant conversion rate disparities between industries, countries, seasons, devices and more. For December 2020, for example, the typical conversion rate for the arts and crafts market was 2.44%. Compare that to 0.99% for baby & child market.

With that in mind, it's best to develop your own key performance indicators (KPIs) by looking at the average ecommerce conversion rate in your industry, taking into account your own data as much as possible, while allowing for anomalies.

What's more, you should always be careful when making comparisons to competitors. Amazon, for instance, boasts a 13% conversion rate, which is almost seven times the industry average. Also, understand that there can be reasonable differences between stores in the same industry - a clothes retailer targeting younger people will likely have a sizeable difference in its overall website conversion rate when compared to a store catering to an older market.

Third party metrics, medians, averages etc. are great for giving you a general idea of what to aim for. They also highlight the places you might be running into issues (such as on mobile devices), and help to measure yourself against close competitors.

So what's a good website conversion rate? Assuming you're not hitting well below your market average, and accounting for natural and manmade disasters, it's simply one that's better than the last one! Sorry we couldn't be more specific folks!

Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Industry

When developing goals and in-house benchmarks, we've found market-specific conversion rate standards to be a valuable source of data for gauging the general performance of an Ecommerce store.

IRP Commerce provides timely data about a number of markets. You can see from the graph below that "Arts & Crafts" leads the way with 3.79% while "Baby & Child" lags behind with 0.99%.

Recent median data also presents interesting data giving us some additional peek into how conversion rate is distributed in every Industry.

Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Country

It's important to take benchmark conversion rates of individual countries into account when formulating your own KPIs. The conversion rate you should expect from an Indian market, for example, will be different from that of a US market.

It's important to take benchmark conversion rates of individual countries into account when formulating your own KPIs. #ecommerce #CRO Click To Tweet

It can be particularly useful to come up with language- and country-specific KPIs for segments of your customer base. It might also be necessary to amend KPIs based on industry benchmarks if you're catering to a market with a lower overall conversion rate. As always, the key here is for these stats to inform your goals not to define them.

Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Channel/Source

Ecommerce conversion rates by traffic source are incredibly useful to retailers because the figures can be used to set channel-specific goals while also honing in on the most promising and best-performing sources of traffic.

Referral traffic is by far the best performer and highlights the need among ecommerce retailers to encourage.

Referral traffic is driven from external sites that link to your store. This can be an expert post recommending one of your products or a comment on a blogpost. If the traffic source is highly relevant, people often come with a strong purchase intent. This is why the average Referral Conversion Rate performs so well. - Florian Schulze

As is clear from the visualization below, the performance of these channels remains fairly consistent in terms of best and worst, irrespective of industry. Though in some industries, particular acquisition channels can be extremely powerful (like "Email" in "Food & Drink")

Facebook is an often favored channel in modern ecommerce. However, it performs best for very visual products such as those in the Fashion, Electronics, Food & Drink and Beauty & Wellness niches. - Florian Schulze

Average Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Device

Benchmarks for specific devices - namely desktop, tablet and smartphone - are also worth considering when forming specific KPIs. As is clear from the data below, conversion rates for large-screen devices like tablets and computers are significantly higher (more than double) than the conversion rate for mobile.

This information can help you form an accurate picture of how you're performing on different devices. A low desktop conversion when compared to mobile, for example, might indicate issues with your desktop site design. An extremely low mobile conversion rate, on the other hand, likely points to a poorly-designed mobile shopping experience and checkout. Find out how to boost mobile conversion rate by stealing ideas form Asos.com!

Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Platform

Looking at conversion rates by platform enables you to gauge performance across the whole spectrum of operating systems. Not only does this allow you to pinpoint UX and compatibility issues that may be platform-specific, but it also gives you the opportunity to optimize for the platform most widely used by your customers.

Windows is the top performer when it comes to conversion rates by platform. Notably, Linux only has a conversion rate of 0.02%. As expected, conversion rates for mobile operating systems are lower than desktop ones.

Ecommerce Conversion Rate by Payment

Payment is the final step in the customer journey that stands between the client and the product he's ordering. In a nutshell, payment makes or breaks the deal. Making sure everything is working perfectly at that moment pays a huge role in your conversion rate result. What's interesting, PayPal transactions have 70% higher checkout rates than non-Paypal transactions. So, if your online store doesn't support PayPal transactions, better get to it ASAP.

Conclusion on Ecommerce Conversion Rate Benchmarks

Navigating the world of online data is difficult and complex. Dozens, if not hundreds, of new ecommerce studies - covering a range of metrics - are published every year. Which should you give your attention to and which should you ignore?

At Growcode, we believe it's best to take a focused approach. We advise our clients to rely on a handful of well-researched studies, picked because they cover a range of metrics deemed to be relevant to their own KPIs.

It's important to remember that the role of benchmarks is to help you better understand your own performance and goals and shape your optimization strategy. They're not gold standards to be replicated. What's more, it's always best to take as nuanced an approach as possible, accounting for both general metrics, such as average by country, along with specific metrics, such as conversion rate by industry.

Growth Hack Your Ecommerce Conversion Rate, Sales and Profits!

Download this in-depth, 115-point ecommerce optimization ebook and get a thorough understanding of all the on-site elements you need to improve to growth hack your conversion rate, average order value, sales and profits (and of course, how to do it).

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12 Ecommerce Conversion Rate Statistics (Updated 2021)

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Note: The average conversion rate above is based on 12 studies, most of which were published over the last 4 years. By and large, we have excluded data that is anomalous and/or redundant due to age (usually older than 10 years). This list (and the average) is updated as new data is published.

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I have incorporated the knitted vest within my range as part of the "3-in-1 knit vest duster coat" which will include zip off attachments on the arms and body of the coat. This transforms into a knit vest with transformative details in luxury fashion +3.7% YoY [WGSN, 2020].

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If you lived through the '90s, the concept of a knitted vest might conjure up images of Chandler Bing sitting at Central Perk drinking an oversized coffee and making sarcastic comments amongst his friends. Though, fast-forward almost 30 years, and the once-stuffy clothing item now carries some very different connotations.

As the cool-girl item of choice for editors and influencers, knitted vests have been given a decidedly fashionable makeover of late. The item was seen on the runways of Dior, Prada and Lacoste during the A/W 20 runway shows and has appeared in collections by buzzy brands including Ganni. From oversize cable-knit styles to patterned iterations with contrast colour trim, these are certainly not the same sweater vests you might remember from the '90s.

Of course, it didn't take long for the style set to adopt the trend. In summer, several knitted vests were spotted at Copenhagen Fashion Week and the trend has since started popping up all over our Instagram feeds. In terms of styling, for the summer months, oversized versions of the item were worn alone alongside shorts and jeans, while for cooler days, sweater vests are being paired with collared shirts or over the top of long-sleeve midi dresses. Keep scrolling to see knitted vests in street style and on the runway, and then shop the item below.

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This Unlikely Knitwear Trend Has Become a Winter Staple

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If you lived through the '90s, the concept of a knitted vest might conjure up images of Chandler Bing sitting at Central Perk drinking an oversized coffee and making sarcastic comments amongst his friends. Though, fast-forward almost 30 years, and the once-stuffy clothing item now carries some very different connotations.

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Key loungewear statistics for the AW 20/21 season- highlighting loungewear as a top-selling department during the "stay at home" communication from the Coronavirus Pandemic.

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In this article, we're helping future-proof your assortment by investigating how loungewear performed for SS20, as well as outlining your new core lines and essential buys to win spring.
Get in touch to see EDITED help demystify this category by taking the guesswork out of planning, pricing and phasing assortments.
Spring/Summer 2020 lessons
Nightwear had the most sell outs in the US, while hoodies were favored in the UK as the top stocked category.
In the US, customers sought out Nasty Gal for sleepwear, with this retailer contributing the majority of the sales - pastel and neutral colors were most popular with both short and pant sets desired. Hoodies and sweatpants experienced strong movement in the US, however, the sell out percentage of hoodies was 13% higher in the UK compared to the US.

All-in-ones and sets had a stronger presence and sell out rate in the UK.
Sets made up 7% of arrivals in the UK, due to top stockist PrettyLittleThing, compared to only 1% in the US. All-in-ones had double the offering in the UK with greys, blacks and neutrals dominating - 28% of the all-in-ones were patterned with conversational, stripes and graphics most popular.

Your new core loungewear
Elevated styles
Since April, the number of oversized shirts arriving has increased month-on-month, up 23% from July to August 26th. With the rise of boyfriend dressing and the staying power of bathleisure, oversized shirts transformed loungewear to smart casual. Also, consider wide-leg and elasticized waistbands for trousers and silk PJs for a refined alternative.
House dress
Hill House Home's "Ellie" Nap Dress went viral, offering an alternative to sweatsuits and sleepwear. This often loose-fitting, longline dress style gained momentum due to a consumer shift towards more dressed-up yet comfortable outfits. Learn why the house dress will live on post-lockdown, and the urgency to buy in now.
Seamless
Retailers are promoting seamless loungewear via email, highlighting bodysuits to lounge sets and joggers. The importance of seamless apparel has grown, with newness up 22% YoY. Retailers have been responding to this increase by promoting it across apparel and not just for activewear.

What should be in your current assortment
Knitted co-ords
Whether your customer is dressing up to be reunited with family this holiday season or going out on the town, design into heavier fabrics for coordinated sets to ensure comfort and style. Consider mock necks, oversized turtlenecks, midi-length skirts and black.
Tracksuits
Update loungewear sets this fall with sporty designs like color blocking, water-resistant fabrics and drawstrings. Use branding and graphics as placement prints or apply all-over. Pops of color are also welcomed for this style.

Essential buys for SS21
Bermuda joggers
Mid-length shorts started to trend this spring, bike shorts and denim being most popular. With inspiration from the Pre-Spring 2021 collections, this short will evolve into the Bermuda jogger for next spring. Think calf-length, drawstrings, pockets and knit fabrics.
Relaxed tailoring
Present in streetwear during Copenhagen Spring 2021 Fashion Week as well as within Pre-Spring 2021's collections, looser silhouettes were found across suiting - most specifically in blazers. With more relaxed wear-to-work wardrobes, and many people anticipating going back to the office in 2021, deconstruct classic tailored looks for a more laid-back aesthetic.

To complete your assortment, log in to read the Womenswear: Future of Loungewear report.
Enjoyed this? Sign up to our weekly Insider Briefing to get these types of reports and more straight in your inbox.

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Your ultimate SS21 loungewear range plan | EDITED | Retail Market Intelligence

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In this article, we're helping future-proof your assortment by investigating how loungewear performed for SS20, as well as outlining your new core lines and essential buys to win spring. Get in touch to see EDITED help demystify this category by taking the guesswork out of planning, pricing and phasing assortments.

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Due to the different formats of answers within the survey, I decided to be able to draw conclusions I would collate all the data into a table. This would help identify the customer profile of a Vivienne Westwood customer.

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When choosing the key items for the range I ensured I researched analytics and retail reports on WGSN for SS20 and AW20/21 to understand the styles that were popular YoY and which achieved the least revenue so I didn't include these within the range.

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Corruption Perception Index- Turkey sourcing disadvantage- accessed 07/02

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Corruption Perception Index- Turkey sourcing disadvantage- accessed 07/02

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Turkey - Transparency.org
Turkey is a great country to source from in terms of quick turnaround times for in-season repeat orders and its geographical location to the UK, however a drawback is the country ranks 86/180 with high corruption levels. Therefore, brands may experience issues with suppliers in the country.

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WGSN AW 20/21 Womenswear debrief- Sustainability data- accessed 11/02 

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WGSN AW 20/21 Womenswear debrief- Sustainability data- accessed 11/02 

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Within the AW 20/21 Debrief, research data from the WGSN Barometer (retail consumer intelligence and survey platform) carried out across 2019/20, found the sub category priorities for consumers within the topic of sustainability. At the forefront was environmental concerns at 37.7%, followed by ethical labour at 32.4% and transparency at 21.6%.

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WGSN- AW 20/21 Womenswear Debrief- Product category performance- accessed 11/02

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WGSN- AW 20/21 Womenswear Debrief- Product category performance- accessed 11/02

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The data shows that although new in range mix has prioritised loungewear, comfy styling, dresses remain a high proportion of this new in mix despite poor performance. Dresses hold 18% of new in ranges, with their performance in terms of points falling by 3.12%. Puff sleeve and casual styles still remain popular among consumers.

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WGSN- AW 20/21 Womenswear Debrief- Colour and print performance- accessed 11/02

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WGSN- AW 20/21 Womenswear Debrief- Colour and print performance- accessed 11/02

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Core colours remain the most popular among customers- black, white and neutral shades with chocolate brown +27% YoY. Bright colours have significantly dropped in performance, a potential problem for my collection however it is for the AW 21/22 season and by this time hopefully life will return to some sense of normality. People will return to dressing up for events and occasions, wearing a wider variety of colours and prints.

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The collection will launch on 6th September 2021 in stores and online. Customers signing up to the brand will get exclusive early to the range online the day before, showing the brand's customer loyalty.

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Photos from Viktor & Rolf's Statement-Making Spring-Summer 2019 Haute Couture Collection - E! Online - AP

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Garments within this statement collection intend to shock catwalk audiences, with the aim to be the most memorable and create an impact.

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Vivienne Westwood Market Position- accessed 23/12

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Vivienne Westwood Market Position- accessed 23/12

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2019 was a profitable year for Vivienne Westwood with a net profit of £1.83m compared to £4.8m loss in 2018.

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Vivienne Westwood 2019 Financials- accessed 23/12

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Vivienne Westwood 2019 Financials- accessed 23/12

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Vivienne Westwood Limited - Company Profile - Endole

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Vivienne Westwood Financials- accessed 23/12 

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Vivienne Westwood Financials- accessed 23/12 

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The data shows key financials for the Vivienne Westwood brand up until 2018.

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Companies House 2019 Accounts- accessed 23/12

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Companies House 2019 Accounts- accessed 23/12

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application-pdf
Due to Vivienne Westwood listing as a private limited company, I was unable to use Globaldata as a data source for the brand's annual financials. I therefore found the majority of my data using the Companies House financial report for the UK company.

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GlobalData- Lockdown restrictions- affect on YoY footfall data- accessed 02/01

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GlobalData- Lockdown restrictions- affect on YoY footfall data- accessed 02/01

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-63.1% YoY footfall figures recorded day after 2nd lockdown restrictions introduced and -74.4% YoY after 1st lockdown introduced.

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Economical- ONS- Office for National Statistics- accessed 28/12

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Economical- ONS- Office for National Statistics- accessed 28/12

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UK inflation driven down by discounting from clothing retailers | Business | The Guardian
UK inflation fell to 0.3% in November 2020 compared to 1.5% in 2019

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AI and Augmented Reality will play a greater role than ever in brand strategies in order to help them compete with competitors by becoming more technologically advanced. This will help them gain customer loyalty and to incorporate within their brand's marketing strategy- key for millennials that like innovative marketing styles that create an experience.

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Social- Gen Z in the luxury market- accessed 03/01

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Social- Gen Z in the luxury market- accessed 03/01

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Generation Z is Shaping a New Luxury | ORDRE

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Vivienne Westwood X Canopy collaboration

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Vivienne Westwood X Canopy collaboration

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Stella McCartney business aims- accessed 05/01

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Stella McCartney business aims- accessed 05/01

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The brand expresses that they wish to continue their sustainability focus in years to come, whilst also growing their store presence across international markets, particularly Asia.

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Stella McCartney key financials- accessed 05/01

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Stella McCartney key financials- accessed 05/01

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Kering previously owned a 50% stake in Stella McCartney, however she purchased their shares in 2018 and has recently joined partnership with LVMH. They will provide the brand with their well-established and highly regarded resources to help with the brand's expansion.

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> In PDF version

Stella McCartney and LVMH have reached an agreement to further develop the Stella McCartney House.

The new partners will detail the full scope of this deal in September.

Ms Stella McCartney will of course continue as creative director and ambassador of her brand, while holding majority ownership.

The goal of this partnership will be for the Stella McCartney House to accelerate its worldwide development in terms of business and strategy, while of course remaining faithful to its long-lasting commitment to sustainable and ethical luxury fashion.

Ms Stella McCartney will hold a specific position and role on sustainability as special advisor to Mr. Arnault and the executive committee members.

LVMH and Stella McCartney are delighted to open this new chapter together.

Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH, declared: " I am extremely happy with this partnership with Stella. It is the beginning of a beautiful story together, and we are convinced of the great long-term potential of her House. A decisive factor was that she was the first to put sustainability and ethical issues on the front stage, very early on, and built her House around these issues. It emphasizes LVMH Groups' commitment to sustainability.

LVMH was the first large company in France to create a sustainability department, more than 25 years ago, and Stella will help us further increase awareness on these important topics."

Ms Stella McCartney added: "Since the announcement of my decision to take full ownership of the Stella McCartney brand in March 2018 there have been many approaches from various parties expressing their wish to partner and invest in the Stella McCartney House.
While these approaches were interesting none could match the conversation I had with Bernard Arnault and his son Antoine. The passion and commitment they expressed towards the Stella McCartney brand alongside their belief in the ambitions and our values as the global leader in sustainable luxury fashion was truly impressive. The chance to realise and accelerate the full potential of the brand alongside Mr Arnault and as part of the LVMH family, while still holding the majority ownership in the business, was an opportunity that hugely excited me. Partnering with M. Arnault, his family and LVMH is a big step for me and my family, but also the team at Stella McCartney. The brand has achieved so much since its launch, and this new partnership with LVMH is recognition of that work, but this I feel is just the start, and I look forward to a brilliant future together".
The closing of this partnership is subject to the usual conditions, in particular the approval of the competition authorities.

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Stella McCartney and LVMH announce a new partnership to further develop the Stella McCartney House - LVMH

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In PDF version Stella McCartney and LVMH have reached an agreement to further develop the Stella McCartney House. The new partners will detail the full scope of this deal in September. Ms Stella McCartney will of course continue as creative director and ambassador of her brand, while holding majority ownership.

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LVMH Group Key Financials- accessed 07/01

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LVMH Group Key Financials- accessed 07/01

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Key figures by business and region, income statement - LVMH group
Figures up to 2019 are displayed on the LVMH website for the group revenue. Records on Companies House display brand specific data for Louis Vuitton.

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Louis Vuitton hold a global clothing and footwear market share of 0.8% as of 2019; the highest of the LVMH group.

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Louis Vuitton- Companies House - accessed 07/01 

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Louis Vuitton- Companies House - accessed 07/01 

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Financial data for the Louis Vuitton brand was available on Companies House records with turnover in 2019 equalling £483.4m.

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Artist Collaboration- Louis Vuitton X Yayoi Kusama

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Artist Collaboration- Louis Vuitton X Yayoi Kusama

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The collection launched in 2012 with few items left available for purchase on resale platforms.

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Kering's luxury houses and core markets drive strong revenue growth in 2019 (fashionunited.uk)
Alexander McQueen became part of the Kering group in 2001 and since the Kering group have seen sustained growth with $15.9m revenue in 2019.

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Alexander McQueen Key Financials- Companies House-accessed 09/01

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Alexander McQueen Key Financials- Companies House-accessed 09/01

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Alexander McQueen is part of the Kering group, therefore group figures are displayed on GlobalData but brand specific data was collected from Companies House records.

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Alexander McQueen- 2019 trading performance- Companies House- accessed 09/01

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Alexander McQueen- 2019 trading performance- Companies House- accessed 09/01

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Sales growth of +106% YoY on continued operations

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Damien Hirst collaborates with Alexander McQueen - Telegraph
Launching November 2013, the collaboration is a pinnacle artist and fashion partnership to celebrate the anniversary of the brand's skull motif.

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Incorporating the iconic Burberry check and Vivienne Westwood punk heritage styling, this is one of the brand's most recognised collaborations within the luxury fashion sector. A unisex collection and sustainability message was expressed throughout e.g. "Save the rainforest" graphic print.

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A new collaboration between iconic British designer Vivienne Westwood & Burberry. Launching 6 December 2018.

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Part of my primary research would have been to visit the Bruce Nauman exhibition at the Tate Modern Gallery. However, due to unforeseen business closures, I was unable to visit the artist's exhibition which would have given a better insight and understanding into his work.

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A journey through the ground-breaking works of this quintessential contemporary artist

Bruce Nauman is a restlessly inventive artist. Since the late 1960s he has continually tested what an artwork can be, by reshaping old forms and creating new ones. His ground-breaking works using sound, film, video and neon have influenced generations of artists.

This is the first major exhibition of his work in London in more than 20 years. It allows visitors to engage with the artist's universe through immersive installations with a strong emphasis on sound and moving image, as well as poetic sculptures and neon pieces.

Major works like Double Steel Cage Piece 1974, Anthro/Socio (Rinde Spinning) and Clown Torture 1987 highlights Nauman's distinctive preoccupations and how he incessantly revisits them - yet never repeats himself.
Exhibition organised by Tate Modern and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in collaboration with Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan

Bruce Nauman e 1970 Tate Purchased 1994 © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020

Bruce Nauman The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign) 1967 Kunstmuseum Basel (Basel, Switzwerland) © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020

Bruce Nauman Manipulating the T-Bar 1965-1966 Courtesy of the Artist © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020

Explore the exhibition room by room

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Bruce Nauman - Exhibition at Tate Modern | Tate

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A journey through the ground-breaking works of this quintessential contemporary artist Bruce Nauman is a restlessly inventive artist. Since the late 1960s he has continually tested what an artwork can be, by reshaping old forms and creating new ones. His ground-breaking works using sound, film, video and neon have influenced generations of artists.

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Bruce Nauman's neon artwork will be the main attraction to my proposed range.

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Referencing the need for a circular fashion economy

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Week 1 was allocated to research for a concept idea. From the delivery of the brief I knew I wanted to choose an artist collaboration to both utilise my creative skills and build on my existing knowledge of fashion collaborations. I decided on the luxury fashion market as opposed to a high street, fast fashion retailer as I have vast experience within this sector and wished to learn new skills concerning luxury. I envisioned a collection described as quirky and "out-there" and Vivienne Westwood sprung to mind. From here I researched artists and found the match in Bruce Nauman. I met all my deadlines for the week and although I did not finalise any colours or prints for the range I had researched this on WGSN and created a document of colours to choose from at a later date. The only problem I came across was discussing our concepts with our tutor and she mentioned I may find the concept difficult to execute, especially as Vivienne Westwood is a private limited company. Despite this I believed in my concept collection and decided I would overcome any hurdles regarding this.

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I listed both week 2 and 3 together as the tasks within them did not fully follow my original plan due to the problems we faced carrying out a primary comp shop. I planned to carry out my SWOT and PEST in the week before the comp shop, however as the comp shop had to be conducted as secondary research I felt as if both parts of the INP interlinked and I was working on them together during both weeks. I allocated part of week 4 to continue with the comp shop to give myself enough time to understand each brand fully; how to set Vivienne Westwood apart from her competitors within my range.

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Within week 4 I had planned to continue comp shop write up and plan the sourcing strategy. However, I found I needed the whole week to continue with the comp shop which in retrospect was too long to allocate to the comp shop altogether. The sourcing research following the comp shop write up will need to reflect Vivienne Westwood's British heritage and high quality, luxury marketed goods.

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I started this week by deciding on the CAD designs for my range. I had already carried out key item research so chose designs based on those that performed well in previous seasons according to WGSN. I have loved using photoshop in previous projects, experimenting as I go and this was the perfect concept to be able to experiment with in terms of creativity, colour and print. I began hand drawing ideas regardless of colour which reflected key Vivienne Westwood styles and incorporated Bruce Nauman's art. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed starting to produce my range on Photoshop, I have found it difficult designing the motifs, incorporating visible sustainability messages and keeping within my set deadlines for the creation of the range. I have started researching possible pricing and composition for the garments but need to research further into the brand before finalising these.

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Sourcing was due to be finished, however I will need to carry this over to the beginning of next week. Vivienne Westwood describes true English sourcing as a priority for the brand's heritage and later formed relationships with larger Italian factories, however the website does not list individual sourcing countries for each product alike competitor brands. This lack of transparency has forced me to conduct a larger amount of research into the brand's sourcing and delayed my existing time schedule. I therefore have focused on the display of my range into my INP presentation for this week.

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I had started my sourcing at the end of week 7, beginning with my critical path of the corset. This helped to understand the sourcing process within the UK and how this differs between Turkey and Italy. After completion of my sourcing infographic, I had planned the units of stock I would allocate to each store and had all the data needed for the merchandising spreadsheet. I enjoyed working some calculations out myself to understand where the excel spreadsheet data had come from. This will be beneficial in future job roles where technology is not always reliable. One issue I came across was incorrectly identifying the separate sheets within the excel spreadsheet and creating my own calculations, which I later found out was unnecessary. In future I will look through the contents of documents before beginning work on them.

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The final week before submission of my INP has been allocated to proof reading all of my documents and ensuring all data is reverenced from the padlet and bibliography. I have also needed time to check my merchandising spreadsheet so all the calculations work correctly across all tabs. I had not previously expected to need extra time for excel however I have ensured I work full days to achieve this and time for reviewing. I have loved creating the range the most of all the tasks within the INP and learning the basic skills needed to use Photoshop which I can build on in my own time. I have noticed in the future I need to improve on timekeeping and meeting set deadlines as this is a key requirement for buying and merchandising roles. I have least enjoyed the PEST research as I
found this one of the longest tasks to complete- making a point and searching for evidence to back it up which was very time consuming and delayed my predicted timeline for the project. I believe I can confidently incorporate all the skills I have learnt within the course at the FRA in a future career. If given the opportunity I think I would have really benefitted from a garment tech insight topic within the course as I believe it to be an important aspect of the job and is something I have the least knowledge on.

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WGSN- AW 20/21 Buyer's Debrief Jersey/Knitted Flares- accessed 12/02

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WGSN- AW 20/21 Buyer's Debrief Jersey/Knitted Flares- accessed 12/02

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Jersey/Knitted Flares have increased +117% YoY within the UK. I have a pair of graphic print flares in my collection, therefore these should be a best-seller for the brand if the popularity of the flare style trouser continues through 2021.

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Retail is under pressure. Margins are stressed from all sides: higher costs to manage e-commerce supply chains, growing demands from suppliers to pass on raw-material cost inflation, higher investments to match new competition, and steadily rising labor costs. At the same time, the customer's expectations continue to surge as digital natives and disruptors alike raise the bar for personalized service-on the back of what, at times, is an advantaged cost structure. As retailers struggle to adapt, and even to survive, they increasingly pursue automation to address margin strain and more demanding customer expectations. Automation, however, is a new capability for all but digital natives, and the sophistication in approach varies accordingly.

Over the past three years, the McKinsey Global Institute has conducted a broad-based research initiative on automation across sectors. This research has shown that about half of the activities in retail can be automated using current, at-scale technology. While this number is alarming, the change will be less about job loss and more about the evolution of jobs, the creation of new ones, and reskilling. Only about 5 percent of all jobs can be fully automated with current technology, and automation will lead to the creation of jobs as companies invest in growth.

In our work in the retail sector, we see automation reshaping business models and the broader value chain. Let's start with four new realities we observe among retailers.

1. Margin pressure has made automation a requirement, not a choice

Retail-margin pressure is mounting, driven by more intense competition, investment in e-commerce, and pressure to increase wages. While these cost pressures are not new, many retailers have already exhausted traditional cost-reduction levers. Unable to pass on costs to their customers in this hypercompetitive environment, retailers are using automation to support and bolster margins.

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These pressures are consistent across retail subsectors. Our analysis suggests that typical grocery and hypermarket retailers face 100 to 150 basis points of margin pressure, and typical specialty apparel or department stores 350 to 500 basis points. A comprehensive automation program can significantly offset these headwinds. Automation initiatives across store, supply-chain, and headquarter functions can generate 300 to 500 basis points of incremental margin, which retailers can reinvest in their growth opportunities.

2. The bottleneck to automation is internal, not external

An assessment of available automation technologies shows that they can already operate a typical retail grocery store with up to 55 to 65 percent fewer hours. The critical components include electronic shelf-edge labels, self-checkout terminals, shelf-scanning robots, and partially automated backroom unloading. These technologies have been proved at scale and offer internal rates of return higher than historical retail hurdle rates-yet few retailers are moving quickly to implementation.

Retailers struggle to break free from the soft tyranny of budget cycles and the replication of last year's capital spending.

In some cases, the bottleneck is a lack of skills and capabilities. But one of the biggest challenges is the inertia of the business. Retailers struggle to break free from the soft tyranny of budget cycles and the replication of last year's capital spending. Our corporate-finance research suggests that two-thirds of companies fall into this trap. For these players, more than 90 percent of a given year's capital expenditures simply reprise those of the preceding year. Only one-third of companies are dynamic reallocators, consistently shifting 30 to 40 percent to different business units or new uses over five to six years-that is, a reallocation rate of 5 to 6 percent a year. Dynamic reallocators enjoy disproportionate rewards: growth in total shareholder returns nearly three percentage points higher than those of other companies over an extended time period.

3. If you aren't already implementing automation, you are falling behind

Amazon, which has made headlines with its Amazon Go retail concept, has been the most prominent disruptor. Through the implementation of automation technology, we believe that Amazon Go has the potential to deliver top-line benefits thanks to additional transacting traffic from reduced wait times and the use of customer insights to optimize assortments and personalize promotions. Further potential could come from the opportunity of commercializing customer data and insights. The company now operates ten Amazon Go stores, in three US cities, and the tech giant has ambitious expansion plans: 3,000 stores by 2021.

Amazon is not alone. Faced with disruption and the opportunity to expand margins, select incumbent retailers are also investing in automation and artificial-intelligence (AI) technologies at scale to enhance both the customer and employee experience. Take, for example, Kroger Edge: digital shelves (which the retailer rolled out across 200 stores in 2018) that display prices, nutrition facts, coupons, and video advertisements-all dynamically updatable from a central source. Eventually, Kroger plans to link the shelves to shoppers' smartphones, allowing an increased level of personalization.

Employing app technology and high-tech outfitted stores, Amazon Go does away with checkout lines. (Photo courtesy Sikander Iqbal)

Ahold Delhaize and Albertsons have announced partnerships with Takeoff Technologies, a company that builds automated miniwarehouses for the robotic in-store fulfillment of digital orders. Other retailers are exploring technology use cases for employee activities. Target and Walmart have invested in autonomous cleaning robots that save hours of its associates' time. Walmart has also rolled out virtual-reality headsets to train associates, as well as the FAST Unloader technology to automate the backrooms of stores. If recent headlines are any indication, the adoption of these technologies by retailers will accelerate.

4. The automation opportunity is bigger than operations

Much of the discussion about the future of work in retail has focused on the use cases for automation and AI in stores. However, supply-chain and headquarter functions (such as merchandising) will also be affected massively.

Consider merchandising. Today, automatable activities account for approximately 30 to 40 percent of the time of merchants, who, for example, spend about 20 percent of their time on merchandise-planning activities. Advanced planning systems can automate historical analytics and generate predictive scenarios, significantly reducing the time needed to plan merchandise and empowering merchants to make faster decisions. Similarly, dynamic systems with web-scraping and predictive impact analytics could automate pricing and promotions. Automating these and other time-intensive processes will enable merchants to increase the time they spend on more strategic activities, creating value for the enterprise (Exhibit 1).

Automation can also make HR processes more efficient and provide leaders with new insights for a successful people strategy. One retailer we know, for example, designed an app-based hiring tool to streamline the recruitment of store associates. At the start of the project, the recruiting process was difficult. Each candidate would provide almost 50 documents and visit the company's offices up to five times; end-to-end, the whole thing took an average of 45 days. To make matters worse, about 40 percent of the associates hired left within six months.

To solve these problems, the company established an agile, cross-functional working team, which created minimum viable products in just ten weeks: for candidates, a mobile-app tool to help browse jobs and apply for them; for HR managers, a web-based tool to screen and identify potential hires. Now implemented in more than 1,000 stores, the solution has not only reduced hiring time by more than 80 percent and store administrative hours by 20 percent but also improved the quality of new hires through the application of advanced analytics to applications.

Supply chains offer several more automation use cases, and retailers are at the forefront of implementation. Target and Walmart have partnered with Swisslog to build warehouses with automated case picking. Ocado sells its Smart Platform, a proprietary e-commerce warehousing solution, to other retailers. More broadly, automated smart robots can store, retrieve, depalletize, and transport products-all while calculating optimal routes through a warehouse. Drones and robots can also be used for security and safety surveillance and for quality checks.

In this section, we explore the critical imperatives for retailers as they build the workforce of the future (see sidebar, "Is your management team actively preparing for the future of work?").

1. Organizational structures and ways of working must be transformed

Automation creates organizations with far fewer layers-each employee is responsible for a more diverse set of responsibilities.

Adding technology, by itself, is not enough. Retailers must also rethink their operating models across stores, distribution centers, and headquarters. Automation creates organizations with far fewer layers-each employee is responsible for a more diverse set of responsibilities. Real-time data and analytics will empower faster decision making.

Consider a store that employs shelf-scanning robots, effectively automating a large part of a traditional store-department-manager's role. The instructions of a robot rather than a department manager guide stockers, who now work more efficiently and can therefore be cross-trained to perform additional in-store activities, such as providing service to customers or picking online orders. Meanwhile, retailers must reconsider the organizational structure, since they no longer provide a career path from stocker to department manager to store manager. Stockers must now move laterally through multiple teams while building leadership skills through outside training and executive exposure before moving on to leadership roles in stores.

To fully unlock the benefits of this technological transformation, extensive adopters of automation and AI are exploring more agile ways of working. Structurally, this means shifting from strict hierarchies and siloed functions; instead, "teams of teams" are built around end-to-end accountability, with flexible resources that improve work flow. These teams are empowered with real-time data, and decisions are purposefully decentralized to cultivate a bias to action.

2. The redeployment of labor is a strategic opportunity missed by most

Efficiency is often perceived as the primary motivator for adopting automation technologies, but among retailers, innovation is the ultimate way to survive. As they implement automation technology, they create a large bank of hours with a trained and trusted workforce. The opportunity to redeploy a portion of these hours to more valuable activities provides an opening for a differentiating kind of innovation.

Several grocers, for example, are creating new roles for in-store pickers and e-commerce distribution centers. One example of near-in redeployment is Ahold Delhaize's e-commerce investments, which will add 150 new jobs to the local economy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, McDonald's has not only introduced table service in restaurants but also rolled out self-service ordering kiosks. Best Buy has pushed further into adjacent services, creating new customer-service roles in its In-Home Advisor and Total Tech Support programs and retraining employees for them. In the years to come, we will see additional retailers explore shifting labor into other, further-out uses, such as home health care or installation services.

3. Retailers must prepare for skilling and reskilling at scale

As the demand for physical and manual skills declines, the need for technological skills, as well as social and emotional ones, will rise quickly in every sector, including retail (Exhibit 2). Faced with the skill gap created by the future of work, retailers have three options to acquire talent: hire new employees, outsource to gig workers and external partners, or reskill current workers.

While hiring may appear to be an ideal solution, the rapid growth of technology companies and the digitization of incumbents have diminished the available skill pool. Companies report that an inability to source talent is the main reason for delaying digital transformations, and this is hardly surprising; we estimate that digital skills are available in only half the needed quantity and agile skills in only a quarter. Retailers therefore cannot assume that hiring and outsourcing will bridge the skill gap, and this leaves a mandate to reskill employees.

On average, replacing an employee can cost 20 to 30 percent of an annual salary, reskilling less than 10 percent.

Although reskilling takes a good deal of effort, it often offers a higher return on investment, in the longer term, than hiring; in fact, the business case for reskilling can be 1.5 to three times better. On average, replacing an employee can cost 20 to 30 percent of an annual salary, reskilling less than 10 percent. Reskilling existing employees also allows a retailer to retain institutional knowledge and saves the ramp-up time needed to onboard new hires. Furthermore, reskilling is more likely to earn goodwill from employees, customers, and governments alike. This goodwill can have tangible benefits; approximately 40 percent of transformations fail because of employee resistance, so a reskilling campaign can mitigate that risk. For these reasons, we believe that reskilling will be a large part of the answer for retailers. Across industries, global executives agree: 75 percent of those surveyed say reskilling will provide at least half of the solution for the skill gap.

Employers will play a leading role in helping workers to reskill, but collaboration with external partners will also be required. Educational institutions and industry associations can create specialized curriculums and certifications for future skills. Not-for-profit organizations can develop innovative approaches to make reskilling efforts more affordable and effective. Such partnerships are even more important for smaller retailers (such as regional grocery chains) that may have fewer resources for a substantive reskilling effort.

Companies at the forefront of employee-reskilling efforts recognize the importance of collaboration. Walmart's Dollar a Day college-tuition program, for example, has won support from other key organizations since it started. To ensure the initiative's success, Walmart has partnered with Guild Education, which provides coaches to help the company's employees select the appropriate degree and navigate the college-application process. Walmart also picked its university partners thoughtfully, choosing three-Bellevue University, Brandman University, and the University of Florida-known for their high graduation rates and focus on adult learners. AT&T launched Future Ready, a $1 billion web-based, multiyear reskilling effort, with the support of universities (such as Georgia Tech) and online platforms (for instance, Coursera and Udacity).

Some retailers are beginning to adopt virtual-reality (VR) technology for various purposes, including at Walmart, which uses VR headsets to train associates.

4. Talent-acquisition strategies require an upgrade

As previously mentioned, the future of work is heightening the competition for skilled employees. Given the relative scarcity, retailers must approach talent strategy more broadly-looking, for example, at the implications for site decisions and the role of outsourcing to external partners and gig workers.

Winning in an era of unprecedented disruption: A perspective on US retail

Employers increasingly view talent-not real-estate costs-as the primary driver of decisions regarding office locations, and many are moving their headquarters to optimize for talent. Ahold Delhaize's Peapod and McDonald's have both moved their headquarters from the outskirts of Chicago to the heart of downtown. The Canadian grocery chain Loblaws runs its Loblaws Digital organization in a trendy Toronto neighborhood rather than the main headquarters, in the suburbs. Executives from each of these companies have cited the need to attract talent as the key motivation for their site decisions.

By engaging gig workers and outsourcing tasks to partners (rather than hiring), retailers can also expand the way they define the acquisition of talent. Today, roughly one-third of US workers are freelancers; if current trends continue, independent workers could become the majority of the US workforce by 2027. Tapping into this gig economy helps employers to fill specific skill gaps quickly and more flexibly, and the opportunity to pay for outcomes can help minimize costs. Understanding these benefits, several leading companies across the full consumer ecosystem-both manufacturers and retailers-are exploring the potential of independent workers. Coca-Cola, for instance, invested early in the gig-economy platform Wonolo, which connects gig workers with potential employers. It remains a customer of the platform today, along with the North Face and Uniqlo. P&G piloted an on-demand talent initiative for project-based work, such as translations and content creation. The result was faster resourcing, improved quality, and lower costs.

5. Wage reinvestments are a missed opportunity-few invest strategically

To get the right talent, retailers must invest in higher wages and benefits.

As retailers introduce additional automation into their retail models, they will end up with fewer but more highly skilled jobs. To get the right talent, retailers must invest in higher wages and benefits. Many retailers are managing this shift reactively, investing only when they find that they can't attract and retain the right talent profiles. That's a missed opportunity to take a more strategic investment approach, which can yield a higher ROI. To prepare for wage reinvestment, retailers should now develop the ability to differentiate performance and rewards for key contributors. This is also the moment to develop a clear skill-and-certification ladder that can reward employees with higher pay.

6. Every retailer needs a social-impact plan

Automation will disproportionately disrupt retail, since three out of the five most automated jobs in any sector in the United States are in retail (Exhibit 3). By the numbers, automation will have a disproportionate impact on the entry-level roles with the lowest levels of skill-and the highest turnover. As a result, retail's role in where "America learns to work" may shift.

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The remaining retail jobs will probably be better paid, with higher skills and lower turnover. As even frontline retail jobs become more advanced, society will face a broader question: how to create better pathways so that people with entry-level skills can acquire new ones and thrive. Retailers can take a lead in answering this question-and in tailoring the solutions by types of people and communities.

The future of work has arrived in retail. Executives should prepare for the impact of automation and AI technologies across all core functions and proactively address the workforce implications. The longer companies wait to respond, the higher the risk they will not be able to catch up. Addressing automation and workforce transitions should be at the top of every retail management team's agenda.

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Automation in retail: An executive overview for getting ready

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Retail is under pressure. Margins are stressed from all sides: higher costs to manage e-commerce supply chains, growing demands from suppliers to pass on raw-material cost inflation, higher investments to match new competition, and steadily rising labor costs.

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Millennials, also known as Generation Y, preceded by Generation X are typically attributed by demographers to those ones born in the early 1980s and mid-1990s to early 2000s as the ending birth years.

The generation has been labelled as lazy, temperamental and lacking loyalty and work satisfaction. To others, they are creative, innovative and approachable.

Although what it is certain is that they are increasingly involved with communications, media, and digital technologies. But Millennials are more than that.

They are dreamers, ambitious, generous and very sympathetic individuals who value more experiences than materialistic possessions.

During their childhood, they were very exposed to the internet and therefore influenced by it which definitely gives a singularity in comparison to previous generations.

Millennial spending statistics and habits

1. Millennials spend two thirds more than Baby Boomers on entertainment

2. Unlike other generation, Millenials are more driven by experiences and half of the millennials prefer to spend on experiences over materialistic things

3. Millennials spend around £150 on restaurants and eating out

4. Millennials spend an average of £73 on new clothes per month

5. 63% of Millennials use social media to stay updated on their favourite brands

6. 60% of Millennials prefer to spend on generic brand than name brand

7. 90% of them share, recommend or review their favourite brands, restaurants, experiences

Understanding the values and aspirations of millennials has been one of the challenges modern marketers have recently faced and for many, it is still an incognita as they differ majorly from previous generations.

For example, the way they see leadership is probably one of the notable traits that them from Generation X as well as how they perceive the work environment and the way they interact at the working environment.

1. What are Millennials driven by?

Often derogatorily labelled as narcist, it is undoubtedly one of the hardest groups to market for its nonconformist and rebellious attitude towards traditional conventions.

According to Facebook, 70% of millennials are influenced by social media when choosing their holidays destination.

Digital marketing consultants and public relations are using influencer marketing and leveraging social media video production to reach them effectively via Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook and believe it to be the most powerful strategy to create a lasting impact.

In the technological era, the instant gratification phenomenon is increasingly rooting and millennials are inevitably being affected.

Consequently, any marketing tactic that satisfies this 'need' will absolutely pay favourably, that is the reason behind the next day delivery initiatives.

If you can offer a solution or a more effective way to do things online for millennials, you will definitely have a lot of chances to succeed.

Examples of these are chatbots, a two-click holiday booking, order food in just two clicks or applying for a job in just a single click - no more going to travel agencies, or speaking to managers or posting letters for a job vacancy, no more phone calls to order food (actually just adding your details when signing up is more than enough).

When marketing successfully a product for this generation, authenticity and personalization are not only crucial but also seem to effectively drive a lot of engagement.

A campaign such as 'Share a coke' launched in and turning into an instant success by increasing sales by 7% is a clear example of this.

Moreover, there is an increasing demand for personalized apparel and accessories. According to Deloitte, 1 in 4 customers are willing to pay more to receive a personalized product.

Brands that can offer personalized products should consider doing so, not only as a tactic to drive more sales but also as an opportunity to increase engagement and build a reputation.

Millennials don't care about catchy and clever phrases, sophisticated wording or extensive advertising campaigns, on the other hand, factors such company's mission, originality and exclusivity are among the most decisive factors in the purchase process.

2. How to attract Millennial customers?

I hope all these millennials spending statistics and data would help you create more effective campaigns that would save time and money. Below I have listed some of my tips on how to generate more engagement with millennials.

2.1. Be Social

Social media is the most cost-effective marketing tool ever being gifted to marketers, adults between 35-49 spend an average of almost 7 hours a week on social media.

How much time do you think millennials spend on social networks? I don't want to know. Unlike their parents, they see shopping for more social and entertainment activity.

2.2. Be unique and authentic

Speak your language audience and serve your target audience, especially if they are millennials. By doing so, Millennials hate being treated a part of the herd, that is the reason why uniqueness and personalization work so well. Birchbox offers a monthly subscription of beauty samples based on skin and hair type's individuals.

2.3. Inbound marketing as the main channel

Just like that old saying: everyone wants to buy, but no one wants to be sold. Millennials don't want to feel like someone is selling them something as if they didn't have control or decision over the sale.

Millennials want simple practical information, blog posts, and useful videos, they follow influencers and experts. This marketing approach has more chances to appeal to them successfully rather than communicating product facts.

In the technological era, traditional retail models are being relegated or outdated by e-commerce and traditional advertising is being replaced by social media, influencers, and reviews.

Companies targeting them would need to be up to the date with the technological changes, offer experiential marketing to increase customer loyalty and build brand reputation.

3. What do Millennials say?

Millennials as a target audience can be challenging but very rewarding in the long term. As a millennial muself, I feel identified with some of the tracts and with which we have been tagged. Companies know that opening to a millennial audience would help them grow their revenue and secure their market position.

According to Big Data analyst at Analytics & Data, 60% of millennials admit being loyal to the brands they like and regularly purchase from the same companies if they are satisfied with the service.

They believe that brands on social media are more trustworthy than traditional advertising. 90% of them share, recommend or review their favourite brands, restaurants, experiences...

Social networks could give you a taste of how millennials live their lives, their spending habits are and their priorities.

One could extract the assumption that Millennials are more driven by experiences rather materialistic possessions as they can often be seen travelling, hanging out and fully make the most of their lives.

As opposed to Baby Boomer, a generation who was more driven by the fact of that building a family and leaving a legacy to their next generations. Millennials could be seen as more of carpe diem generation.

This group is notable for recommending products they love and 93% of them try a new product if a friend or family member recommends it.

Key Millennial Spending Habits

4. Conclusion

Personalized products, originality, authenticity, and experiential marketing are the keys to drive millennials attention. turning your whole sales funnel into a shopping experience would increase engagement among millennials. Increase your influencer marketing and focus on producing quality video content as 76 per cent of millennials follow brands on Youtube.

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Millennial Spending Statistics | Millennial Spending Habits

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Millennials, also known as Generation Y, preceded by Generation X are typically attributed by demographers to those ones born in the early 1980s and mid-1990s to early 2000s as the ending birth years. The generation has been labelled as lazy, temperamental and lacking loyalty and work satisfaction.

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Within my documents on my laptop I have ensured I am prepared with a separate section for my INP images and files.

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I have analysed the website in terms of layout and the font used to use within the presentation and link it to the brand as much as possible.

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Below are images of all the WGSN research I carried out based on Buyer's Briefing for AW 21/22 and season analytics to use as evidence for choosing particular garment styles, prints and colours within my range.

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I ensured I referenced these when choosing where I was sourcing from and the fibre compositions of the garments.